Angelic Guardians: The Memory
by TheGoodWitchoftheNorth
Summary: Book 3 of the "Angelic Guardians" series! Rizu Hikarino and her friends return to Oukan University for another school year, but along with new classes comes a new enemy, a new prophecy, and new faces, including a past love that Rizu doesn't remember!
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Unlike _Angelic Guardians: The Gathering_ and _Angelic Guardians: The Awakening_, _The Memory_ is still being revised. I will do my best to post a new chapter each week as I continue to revise this story! Just like _The Awakening_, you need to read _The Gathering_ to understand who's who in battle.

There are some drug references and some political bashing here and there, but I'm doing my best to make this book better than the other two, considering how _The Awakening_ ended. Regardless of the warning, if you love it, fave this story and comment! I would love to have your input! :)

**Prologue**

_Roganu, Japan, 2002_

Walking to her first class, a rain-soaked fifteen-year-old Erizabesu Hikarino strode down the science wing of Roganu Junior & Senior High School with a neutral expression etched on her face. Droplets of water fell from her short ponytail, and she left behind small puddles in the middle of the hallway as she passed several classmates who were at their lockers sniggering and murmuring about her under their breath. _Fuck me for leaving my umbrella at home again,_ she thought.

Gripping her school briefcase tightly in her hands, she stepped into the small laboratory without casting a glance at the group of freshman boys in the corner of the room. They looked up to see her taking a seat at her assigned desk, but they dismissed her presence with a shrug and returned to their conversation.

Erizabesu frowned as she pulled out her Biology I notebook from her briefcase. She had begun to write down her teacher's notes on the chalkboard when a few members of the freshman cheerleading squad entered the laboratory and sat down next to her. "Looks like someone forgot to check the forecast before she left home this morning," giggled a redheaded cheerleader.

Erizabesu pushed her right thumb against her pencil, and she could feel the thin wood start to break from the pressure. "What do you want?" she growled with annoyance.

Jeshi Ono, the captain of the squad loomed over her and placed her hands on the flat of Erizabesu's desk. "Forget something, Hikarino?" she asked.

"I might have, Ono," retorted Erizabesu.

"You _might_ have? Please, Hikarino, you look like a rat that had gone through the wash and back! How can you tell me that you might have forgotten something important like an umbrella on a day when you need one?"

"Look, Jeshi, if you're needing someone to copy your homework from, there are other people here who wouldn't mind giving you the opportunity!" snapped Erizabesu as she lifted up her head from her notebook.

"Who said I wanted to copy off of you?"

"Well, if you're not here to steal some answers off of me, then why are you wasting my time? Don't you have better things to do than to pick on me and my friends?"

"What friends?" snorted Jeshi. "You don't have any friends, Hikarino, unless you count your books and clarinet!"

"I _do_ have friends!" exclaimed Erizabesu.

"You mean that fat cow you hang around with? I could hardly consider her as a friend, especially since she's been spending a lot of time with her new boy toy these days and not you. Not that I can blame her or anything. I mean I wouldn't want to tie myself to someone who has no life!"

"What makes you think that I don't have a life?"

"Look at you!" said Jeshi. "You're the resident bookworm of Roganu! You can't play sports, you don't go to parties, and you're not all that pretty! Shinmei, do something with that wad you've got dangling behind your head! You look like you're from the 1980's or something! And that skirt? If it wasn't for the school being so anal about uniforms, I'd ditch it!"

"What's wrong with this skirt?"

"Nothing, except you're wearing it and you've got quite a bit of meat on those thighs! It's no wonder you hate to wear shorts!"

"Are you saying that I'm fat?" hissed Erizabesu.

"Not at all!" replied Jeshi. "I'm just saying that you're never going to be as skinny as me!"

Had it not have been for the one-minute warning buzzing over the intercom, Erizabesu would have jumped out of her seat and attacked Jeshi like a rabid animal. Instead, she watched the brunette cheerleader return to her seat and shook her head as she continued to write down her teacher's notes. "What a loser," she heard Jeshi say to her friends, but she brushed off the insult with another stroke of her pencil.

A few freshmen entered the room, but none of them caught Erizabesu's eye until a slim, dark-haired student walked by the cheerleaders. His name was Raian Daishizenno, the son and only child of the wealthy Dr. Jemazu Daishizenno. Raian had landed onto Erizabesu's "dream boy" list since the first day of class just weeks before. He had dark green eyes that reminded her like emeralds and straight brown locks that hung loose around his handsome face. _If only I could have him,_ she thought sadly, _but why would a rich kid like Raian Daishizenno fall for a poor nobody like me? I'll never win his heart._

As if her thoughts were being overheard, Jeshi, who was sitting diagonally from Erizabesu, leaned over and whispered to her, "You're just wasting your time on him, Hikarino. He's only interested in the pretty girls, not the plain, prudish virgins like you. Really, why would you want to gawk at a pothead?"

"Raian's a pothead?" asked Erizabesu disappointedly.

Jeshi rolled her eyes and replied, "You've got to be kidding me! Everyone knows his rep around here! Raian Daishizenno might be the richest kid in school, but that doesn't mean he's a goody two-shoes! Where do you think he gets the hash?"

"I don't know."

"From his papa, _baka_! Dr. Daishizenno is known for prescribing cannabis to his patients as a sedative, including his own son. Raian was born with ADHD, and his papa believed that cannabis was the answer to his son's problem. He overcame his condition, but he didn't want to tell his parents about it because he got addicted."

"So? Just because he smokes cannabis doesn't mean anything."

"Are you sure about that? Raian's just lucky that Papa Daishizenno hasn't caught him dealing drugs to other kids."

"Raian Daishizenno is a drug dealer?" asked Erizabesu.

"The notorious drug dealer in Roganu Junior & Senior High!" answered Jeshi. "Look, we all know you want him, but he doesn't want you. You don't even fit the bill! You're a virgin who goes to church, plays in the pep band at every home game, and spends all your free time studying because you can't go out and hang out with your best friend without interrupting her date. He doesn't want any of that, _and_ he doesn't want a girl who will break him from his habit."

"How would you know? You're nothing but a stuck-up cheerleader!"

Jeshi's upper lip curled into a sneer upon hearing Erizabesu's jab, but her sneer was soon replaced with a grin and she drew closer so that only Erizabesu could hear her. "I might be a stuck-up cheerleader, but at least I know what he's like in bed," she said. "Stop ogling at my boyfriend, Hikarino, or else you're gonna get it."

The final bell buzzed over the intercom, and Mrs. Suchi closed the door behind her to begin her lecture. Erizabesu turned her head to the right to find the boy in question looking back at her with a knowing smirk on his lips. She gave him a weak smile in return and slumped further down into her seat so that no one could take notice of her red face glowing with embarrassment. _This is gonna be another long day,_ she thought.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Home Again - A New Life for Rizu!

_Roganu, Japan, present-day_

A week after the departure of her best friend Robu Tsuchino, twenty-year-old Rizu Hikarino walked around her childhood bedroom as she began to pack her bags and boxes for another year at Oukan University. She would officially become a third-year student the moment she stepped onto campus soil, and she was now one year away from the most crucial point in her academic life.

Sherona Hikarino reminded her oldest daughter that even though it was important to focus her classes, there were also two hurdles that she had yet to jump over before she could participate in the spring commencement program with her respective class. There were two competency exams looming over her head—the writing competency exam that was required for graduation and another exam that she had to take in order to receive her English degree—and both tests were graded harshly by a committee of top-ranked professors. She had two chances to take the writing competency exam, but the foreign language competency exam could only be taken during her final semester, and it was a one-time deal.

As Rizu finished filling an empty cardboard box with her desk supplies and a few intermediate textbooks that she was sure she would have to occasionally refer to with her English Literature course, she stumbled across a photo album of her university life. She had a few photographs of her freshmen year because of her introversion after being rejected by many of her peers, but the rest of the pages were filled with pictures of her new friends that she made as a sophomore. There was her former roommate Beronika Hoshino, the bubbly and spunky sorority girl Megu Hino and her aspiring surfer cousin Jeison Ankokuno, and the resident musician of the group Deibiddo Fushimawashino.

After looking through the few photographs she had of Deibiddo, she then flipped to a section in the back where she kept pictures of her and Robu together from over the years at Roganu Beach. There were more snapshots of them than there were of her friends, and one have would easily assumed that they were lovers from the way they posed for the camera and the closeness in their poses. _But he doesn't see me like that,_ she thought bitterly. _I'm too much of a good friend._

Closing the album shut, she reached up and wiped away a loose tear from the corner of her right eye. "I hope you made it back home safe and sound, Robu," she murmured to herself.

She turned her head to the newest addition of her picture collection that was propped next to her favorite photograph of her and Robu on her bedside table. It was an image of them with her four university friends at Roganu Beach prior to their brief separation for the remainder of their summer vacation. Her lips twitched into a small smile as she recalled the events that brought them all together for a short period of time, and she had almost thanked Deiraira for making it possible.

Almost.

It was a summer vacation none of them would ever forget. The Dark Demon Myoujou had decided to strike Roganu when Rizu was without all but Deibiddo for help, and she was forced to reveal her secret to Robu when hundreds of children were kidnapped by a piper demon. Not too long after that was the search for Seijitsu, who was none other than Robu himself in the end, followed by his short-lived moment of darkness after being brainwashed by the devious she-demon Deiraira. In order to save him, Rizu had to take matters into her own hands and traded places with Seijitsu in exchange of his life and freedom. Had it not have been for Beronka, Megu, and Jeison coming to their aid in time, she was sure Myoujou would have won the war and easily destroyed the remaining five Angelic Guardians.

Now that Robu had gone home to Kirugoru to attend his first semester at the local university and Beronika, Megu, Jeison, and Deibiddo were going back to school with her for another year, Rizu was hoping to start off her first day as a junior on a high note. There was, however, a change that had been bothering her in the back of her mind, and it would soon be waiting for her at the residence complex.

After returning from the train station the day she bid Robu farewell, her hall director Micchi called the house and gave her some news concerning her return to the complex. Not only was she getting a new roommate—a sophomore student named Keitorin Kenkyona—but also a new room on the other side of her floor. She was hesitant to accept the offer, but the room was furnished with stackable furniture similar to those at another residence complex. It was also closer to the kitchenette and the communal washroom. _Maybe a change will do me some good,_ she mused to herself.

"Rizu!"

The sound of her mother's voice startled Rizu from her thoughts, and she poked her head into the hallway to find out why she was being called. "Yes, Mama?" she asked.

Sherona stood in the guest room with a stack of high school yearbooks in her hands. "I've been cleaning out the closet for the last hour, and these books keep getting in my way! Would you please put them some place where I won't trip over them, perhaps in your room?" she asked irritably.

"I guess," grumbled Rizu as she took the stack from her mother's hands and put it on top of her desk.

She rearranged the small bookcase that was mounted above her head and had just shelved her freshman yearbook when she picked up the issue from her sophomore year. She could feel a strange, warm presence radiating from the cover, and she ran her hand over it longingly. Closing her eyes, she flipped open to a page had been bookmarked with the top right corner bent backward. It was the second full-length collection of the 2002-2003 freshman class, and she opened her eyes to look at the one photograph that captured her heart every time.

Raian Daishizenno. He did not leave her a message, a phone number, or anything to remember him by, but his small smile was good enough for her.

Reluctantly closing the yearbook and placing it against her freshman copy, she turned her head to the window and took notice of the bright sun shining in the clear blue sky. "I wonder where you are right now, Raian," she whispered.

In a house along the rich boulevard of eastside Roganu, a young man close to Rizu's age was also preparing for his return to university, but instead of continuing his education in Tokyo, he returned to Roganu after a sudden emergency and enrolled at Oukan University as a sophomore.

After he had graduated from Roganu Junior & Senior High School, his father decided that it was time to go back to Tokyo and finish his final years of a private practitioner until he retired from the medical field. His wife had no problem finding another job either: she was his personal secretary, and she made sure everything ran smoothly in the office. The only reason why they left Roganu after eighteen years of nursing people back to health was to make sure their son got enough support from the public eye, and Tokyo was the perfect city to begin his quest for fame as an artist.

He was relieved to hear that his childhood home was still on the market when he asked his parents about moving back to Roganu. They were willing to give it to him in full as long as he continued his education and maintained a clean record with the law. The only thing he had to pay for were any expenses that could not be covered by them, the insurance company, or school loans.

He snorted to himself and shook his head. Money was not much of a problem for him. After years of investing in the black market as a teenager, he had managed to acquire enough earnings to get by.

With all his dorm necessities loaded in the back of his silver SUV, the young man returned to his bedroom to try on his new school uniform. Looking at his reflection several minutes later, he straightened his red tie and tied back his brown hair into a low ponytail that hung against the nape of his neck. He gave himself a wink of approval with a small smirk playing on his lips. _I wonder if she'd still recognize me,_ he thought as his green eyes shifted to the picture frame that was sitting on his vanity dresser.

It was an old photograph of him and a young girl, slightly older than he, standing next to each other at her graduation ceremony. He could hardly believe that it had been two years since he had seen her last. He mused to himself as he looked at his high school self. Even at twenty years of age, he was still mistaken for a seventeen-year-old despite of the dark trace of facial hair above his upper lip. Then, he pondered for a moment as he turned his attention to the girl in the picture. Would she still be the same? Would she still have her unruly cinnamon-blonde curls in a frizzy ponytail? Did her body finally fill in perfectly while she was away or would she still be lacking in proportion because of her height?

He laid the frame down on the dresser as his questions continued to swirl in his mind. He remembered the day she got her acceptance letter from Oukan University, and he was fairly certain that she was still attending classes there. He smiled at the thought of their reunion as well as her surprised reaction.

He was greatly looking forward to it.

Rizu pulled into the parking lot behind her residence complex the next morning and jumped out of the driver's seat of her blue convertible. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the fresh scent of late summer air that hung over the campus. "Home sweet home," she said aloud.

Her father's white SUV took the empty spot next to her car, and Sherona and her husband Roderikku stepped out of the vehicle to join their daughter. "Well, just don't stand there! Go check yourself in so we can start unloading!" barked Sherona.

"Yes, Mama," grumbled Rizu as she started toward the rear entrance of the building.

Roderikku turned to his wife and gave her a stern look. "The poor girl just got done with a long drive! Couldn't you have at least given her a minute or two to rest her legs?" he admonished.

"We already moved one child this week, and we're about to move another!" snapped Sherona. "I'm tired, I'm exhausted, and between move-in days and work, I'm ready to collapse! I just want to get this done and over with!"

"Are we going to take Rizu out for lunch after this?" asked Roderikku.

"She said she had other plans made. I don't know with whom, though."

"Most likely Beronika."

"Has she told you anything about why that girl chose to live with other people this year? I thought Rizu had a good thing going with her!"

"She might have at first, but that was just at the start of the school year. Things like that change later on," sighed Roderikku. "I hate to say this but Beronika was the only normal friend Rizu had that I liked."

"She was certainly better than Emeri's grandson, her and everybody else Rizu introduced to us!" said Sherona stiffly.

"When are you ever going to accept that boy?"

"He's not a boy, Roderikku! He's a—"

"If you say 'thing', I swear, Sherona, I will leave you here with Rizu and you can help her unload her stuff by yourself!"

"You wouldn't dare!" hissed Sherona.

"Try me."

The urge to smack her husband in front of several other residents that were loading their belongings onto flat carts was overwhelming, but Sherona fought it off and gave into his threat. The fact that the SUV had a manual transmission was the main reason why she did not dare to test his temper. She could not drive a five-speed vehicle, and she knew she would either break the SUV or flood it between Oukan and Roganu. _So much for taking the keys,_ she fumed silently.

In the social lounge, Micchi heard the heavy set of doors near his office burst open and lifted his head in time to see Rizu leap off of the small set of steps on the landing as she ventured further down the room. He sat with several members of the opening committee at the check-in table, and he shook his head in amusement. "Someone's excited to be back," he chuckled. "Did you have a great summer vacation?"

"I think 'great' is an understatement," replied Rizu, "but it sure feels nice to be back home."

"I couldn't agree with you more," said Micchi as he looked for Rizu's name in the list of residents. "Ah, there you are! Checked in and ready to go!"

"Thanks."

"I still feel awful about Beronika not living here anymore. She seemed to have taken an interest in you as a roommate."

"I guess some things are just not meant to be, even when it comes to roommates," said Rizu with a sad smile.

"Well, I hope that whatever happened between you two didn't affect your friendship."

"It didn't. We're getting lunch together as soon as I'm done here."

"Good! I'm glad everything turned out great in the end! Now, have you tried getting in contact with Keitorin?"

"I did," answered Rizu. "We emailed each other quite a bit this past week. She should be here sometime today."

"She's already in your room," said Micchi. "She came in about an hour ago."

"Wonderful."

Micchi handed Rizu a manila envelope that had her name and room number in the upper right hand corner and her room key and check-in papers inside. "You know the drill," he remarked. "Elevators for move-in only, and were you able to get a parking permit for our lot this year?"

"Yeah. Do I have to move it?"

"Either further down the lot or at the stadium until Sunday night. We need to have enough space for everybody this weekend."

"Not at problem," said Rizu. "Catch you later, Micchi!"

"Happy moving in!" said Micchi.

Just as Rizu rushed toward her hall, another student entered the social lounge from the fishbowl lobby off to the side. Micchi looked up from his checklist when he saw the student approach the table and asked, "And you are?"

"Raian Daishizenno."

Meanwhile on the third floor, Rizu stepped out of the elevator car and began to walk down the east hallway of her wing with her suitcase in her left hand and her messenger bag and her computer bag draped across her body. Just as she passed the drinking fountain and the communal washroom, she turned around and let out a sigh of exasperation. "Hurry up, you two!" she ordered mockingly.

Roderikku used all his strength to carefully push the flat cart without knocking off one of Rizu's appliances on her footlocker, and Sherona trailed not too far behind with a box of heavy books in her arms. "Really, Rizu, you need to sell some of your library!" she grumbled. "My back is killing me!"

"Mama, I need those books for my upper level classes, especially English Literature!" insisted Rizu.

"I was referring to your Foreign Language Education books! There's no need to keep them around if all they're gonna do is collect dust! Sell them back next week and use that money for gas or something!"

"A little bit does go a long way," quipped Roderikku.

"But if I keep them a bit longer, I might get a better deal when I sell them then instead of now," argued Rizu.

"You just like to see me in pain, don't you?" muttered Sherona under her breath.

Past the recycling and garbage room to their right was Rizu's new home. The door was standing wide open, and Rizu could hear a conversation going on between two adults. Taking a peek inside the room, she found an older couple casually chattering with each other as they waited for their daughter's return. The man paused in the middle of his sentence when he realized that he was being watched by an unfamiliar young woman standing in the doorway. "You must be Rizu!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I am," replied Rizu. "Are you Keitorin's parents?"

"We certainly are," answered Mrs. Kenkyona with a friendly bow. "It's a great honor to meet you, Rizu. Keitorin was very happy when she found out that you would be her new roommate. She always wanted to have a nice girl to live with."

Rizu was half-tempted to scoff at Mrs. Kenkyouna's assumption, but she accepted the woman's compliment with a smile and replied, "It's nothing! It was the luck of the draw!"

"That's not what Micchi told Keitorin," said Mr. Kenkyona. "You two were the only returning girls who were without a roommate. He was either going to pair you together or assign you to freshmen, and you both requested to not have a freshman as a roommate. If anything, this roommate assignment was fateful."

"I see."

"So, where is Keitorin?" asked Roderikku.

"Right here," said a small voice from behind.

Rizu and her parents turned around to see a short, cinnamon blonde girl standing in the doorway. She had the same average body build as Rizu, and she also wore glasses to enhance her vision.

All four parents exchanged glances after looking at the two young women closely. Both Rizu and her roommate could have easily been mistaken for sisters or cousins, but it was their choice of wardrobe that eased their confusion. Rizu was wearing a _Serā Senshi_ shirt from Lolita's Closet and her favorite pair of blue jean flares, but her roommate looked like she was a grown-up trapped in a university student's body. She had donned a white body shirt beneath a cream vest that tied in the back, and a pair of straight-leg blue jeans. She also wore a pair of brown casual shoes instead of sneakers or flip-flops.

"How do you do?" greeted the girl with a formal bow. "I am Keitorin Kenkyona. Please to meet you."

"Please to meet you too," said Rizu as she bowed in return. "I'm Rizu Hikarino."

"I know. Micchi told me about you," replied Keitorin. "It's an honor to have finally met someone I can relate to instead of confiding in my books."

She gestured to the growing collection of _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ titles on the shelf above her laptop. Sitting next to her chair was another box of books that had yet to be opened. "I'm quite a bit of a bookworm when I don't have homework to do," she added.

_That's an understatement,_ thought Rizu.

Keitorin pursed her lips, and her expression grew grim as she continued. "Rizu, I don't mean to frighten you or anything, but I just want to let you know right now that I'm not one who likes to go out a lot. Aside from going to Fencing Club meetings during the week, I like to have my privacy and my comfort zone. I hope I don't become much of a burden to you if I spend most of my free time here. It was just something my old roommates didn't like about me, and I'm worried that it might be the same case with you."

Rizu swallowed thickly. After taking notice of Keitorin's library, she was afraid that her new roommate was a hermit all along. She might have been reclusive as a freshman, but she was now living with someone who _chose_ to be reclusive instead of being forced because of rejection. "Of course not!" she squeaked. "It's not a problem! I'm cool with that!"

_"Whatever, Rizu,"_ snorted Tamashii from the back of Rizu's mind. _"You know you're not cool with that at all! She just totally stopped you from having our gatherings in your room! What are we going to do now?"_

"Okay, spill the beans," demanded Beronika Hoshino later that afternoon at the food court. "Is she anything like me?"

"Nowhere close," replied Rizu, taking a bite out of her sushi snack pack. "I'm telling you, B, she is the strangest person I have ever met on this campus!"

"You mean there's actually somebody who's stranger than you?"

"Real funny," grumbled Rizu. "No, seriously, she doesn't even look like a university student! She's completely old-fashioned, and she dresses like my mama!"

"You looked through her closet when she wasn't paying attention, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Well, just because she isn't into the latest fashion trend doesn't make her strange," said Beronika. "I mean look at you! You wear shirts that are either based on your childhood or a band you're obsessed with! It's like you haven't even grown up!"

"I can't help it!" cried Rizu. "I just don't care what other girls are wearing!"

"Is it because those girls remind you so much of the ones who picked on you in high school?"

Rizu cringed to herself. Beronika's jab had opened up old wounds and flooded her mind with painful memories of Raian and Jeshi. "I guess so," she muttered.

"Alright. So, she dresses differently than us. Big deal! She still doesn't seem strange to me."

"What about girls who have a big collection of _Star Wars_ and _Star Trek_ books and hundreds of manga titles in their library? And I mean bigger than Robu's!" asked Rizu.

"I know girls who are into manga and sci-fi."

"Yeah, but are they nerds?"

"Like the one I'm talking to? Yes," answered Beronika.

Rizu glowered at her former roommate and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not a _Star Trek_ fan, and I don't read _Star Wars_ novels!" she huffed.

"No, but you do play two _Pocket Monsters_ games on two different consoles, and you have quite a _Serā Senshi_ doll collection at home to boot! I don't know if there are girls our age who are still into that stuff!"

"What are you trying to say, B?"

"I'm saying that you have no right to judge Keitorin like that without examining yourself first," said Beronika. "When it comes down to the wire, you two are the same but on different sides of the coin. Yeah, you're both nerds, but you're a nerd that she's not and vice versa. What you guys are into reflects your inner selves. So what if you don't care for sci-fi books? And so what if Keitorin doesn't like to watch episodes of the _Serā Senshi_ on television? Keitorin doesn't sound any stranger to me than you are, Rizu."

"Well, at least I'm not a hermit anymore!" snorted Rizu.

"Why? Is she one?"

"Big time."

"I don't see anything wrong with that," said Beronika nonchalantly.

"So, you don't mind if she sits in on our meetings?" asked Rizu as she arched her right eyebrow.

Beronika felt her face flush with embarrassment, and she lowered her gaze to her food as she placed her chopsticks on the table. "I didn't think about that," she confessed. "I'm so used to having our gatherings in your room last year because I was living with you back then, but everything's changed now."

"I know," agreed Rizu. "That's part of the reason why I wanted to have lunch with you today. We need to think of a new place for all of us to meet without being interrupted."

"Or having our secret revealed," added Beronika.

"That's our main concern for sure."

"Well, how often does Keitorin go out?"

"Besides class? I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that she's involved with the Oukan University Fencing Club—"

"The what?" interrupted Beronika.

"The Fencing Club. She's part of the team," replied Rizu.

"But I've never heard of a fencing club at Oukan! I know we have a group of swordfighters but not fencers!"

"Well, now you know!" said Rizu sardonically.

"Do you know when they meet?" asked Beronika.

"Three nights during the week. That's pretty much all she's told me so far."

"And you have no idea how long the meetings last either, do you?"

"I'm afraid not," sighed Rizu.

"I guess we'll have to find a new place to meet, then."

"What about your place?"

"Ha!" exclaimed Beronika. "Good luck trying to get all three of my roommates away for several hours! Raura's not much of a problem with her job at Sukoti's when she's not practicing. It's the other two I'm concerned about. Have you asked Deibiddo?"

"And ruin his reputation? I think not!" spat Rizu. "I know better than that!"

"What exactly is his reputation?"

"He's a very private person, and he doesn't like having roommates. That's why he got himself a single this year at our complex. It helps him focus on his music better without the distractions."

"And if someone catches us in his room more than once a week, there's bound to be some talk, huh?"

"I wouldn't doubt it."

"Well, Jeison's out of the question either way," said Beronika.

"Either way? What do you mean by that?" inquired Rizu.

"He didn't tell you?" gasped Beronika.

"I'm always the last to know when it comes to him! Haven't you figured that out by now?"

"Considering that you stalked him last year, I can see why."

Rizu narrowed her eyes and shoved a chunk of rice into her mouth. "Thanks for the reminder," she said flatly. "Now, what did Jeison tell you?"

"He's seriously thinking about joining this fraternity that Megu introduced to him before the holidays last year," began Beronika as she nibbled on her salmon nigiri. "Pledges start next month, and the guys are already holding a room for him at the house if he gets accepted. But rumor has it that he's gonna get in without a doubt because he became buddy-buddy with the president when he wasn't with us, especially while we were away for the summer."

"But I thought he was living with some old friends from high school!" cried Rizu.

"He is, but he's planning to move out once the brotherhood takes him in."

"So, that now leaves us with Megu, and she lives with her mama," sighed Rizu.

"A mama is better than annoying roommates," said Beronika. "Maybe Mrs. Hino won't mind if we meet at her house."

"Maybe, but we still need to ask Megu first before we do anything else."

"Ask me what?"

Rizu and Beronika looked over to find a short redheaded sophomore approaching their table with her ponytail swinging from side to side behind her head. Megu Hino took the empty seat between them and began to unwrap the foil around her cheeseburger. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Where we're gonna have our meetings," answered Rizu.

"Can we have them in your room?"

"We would except Rizu's new roommate is a hermit," said Beronika.

"What about Deibiddo? I heard he got a private room this year."

"Let the private ones have their privacy," mumbled Rizu under her breath.

"And I just told Rizu about Jeison," added Beronika. "So, it's all up to you if we can meet at your place or not."

"Oh, sure, you can!" replied Megu.

"But what about your mama?" asked Rizu.

"Mama won't mind at all. If anything, she'd go out of her way to make cookies for all of us. She's kinda weird like that."

"Well, then, if there's free sweets involved, count me in!"

"Just tell me when you want to come over. Speaking of gatherings, have either of you two talked to Geiburieru?"

"Not since I saw him after we defeated Deiraira last month," replied Rizu, "but he did tell me to meet up with him once all of us got back to Oukan. I know Jeison's only driving distance from here, but Deibiddo didn't tell me when he'd move in."

"Sometime this afternoon," said Megu. "I got a text message from him while I was in the office an hour ago. He said he was on his way."

Beronika turned to Rizu and asked, "Do you think Geiburieru would be at the library if we all swung by there after dinner tonight?"

"Very likely," said Rizu. "I'm almost sure he's there right now."

"I know, but I want Jeison and Deibiddo to be with us when we do go."

"B's got a point," agreed Megu. "We all need to be on the same page should there be a new assignment waiting for us. We certainly don't want any miscommunications."

Rizu and Beronika nodded their heads in agreement and said, "Right."

"So, do you guys want to have dinner at Sukoti's?"

"Are you kidding me?" scoffed Rizu. "I haven't been there for months! I've been craving for Sukoti's all summer long!"

"And I wouldn't mind a good hamburger to start off my final year," added Beroinka.

"Then, that's that," said Megu. "Meet me and the guys there at seven o'clock, okay?"

"Sure thing!"

Just as she stood up from her seat to throw away her aluminum foil into the nearest trashcan, Megu's cell phone suddenly beeped from the bottom of her purse. She pulled back the leather flap and began to search for the red mobile device. "I know it's around here somewhere," she grumbled. "Where did I put it? Ah ha! Found you!"

She took out the phone, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the name that was flashing on the outer screen. It was a new text message alert from a person named Ami Umino, and Megu could not contain the excitement that was bubbling up inside her any longer. "Oh my gosh!" she squealed as she read the message carefully. "She's here! She made it home safe and sound!"

"Who?" asked Rizu.

"My cousin Ami! She just moved back into town today!"

"You have another cousin?" asked Beronika.

"Yeah, but she's not as distant as Jeison. She's actually my first cousin."

"And also your best friend?" teased Rizu.

"Everybody's like my best friend around here, family or not!"

Megu paused in the middle of her reply and looked up from her cell phone at her two friends. "Would you guys have any objection if I invited her to have dinner with us tonight?"

"Not at all," answered Rizu. "I'd like to meet Ami, and I'm sure B would like to as well. Tell her that she's more than welcome to tag along. The more, the merrier."

"Thanks, you guys," said Megu with a small smile of gratitude.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

New Faces and New Assignments – Meet My Cousin Ami Umino!

Rizu and Beronika waited outside of Sukoti's for their friends later that evening. The sun had begun to settle behind several tall buildings in the distance, and Rizu could hear the occasional growling in her stomach. She checked her watch for the umpteenth time and let out a heavy sigh. "What's taking them so long? I'm hungry!" she whined.

"They'll be here soon," replied Beronika from the cast-iron bench in front of the pub. "Those boys are like you when it comes to Sukoti's. You give them the option, and they never turn it down."

"Can you really blame us? The food is so good!"

"But costly!"

"So?" snapped Rizu as she paced behind Beronika's bench.

"Rizu, the only reason why we're eating here tonight is because we all can afford it and it's our big reunion," said Beronika. "And you really ought to learn some patience. Goodness gracious, girl, you're gonna burn a hole in the cement if you keep pacing like that!"

"I'm sorry, but my stomach needs to be fed! That sushi didn't hold up as long as I had hoped!"

"That's your fault for having a light lunch."

Rizu had just turned her heels to face the sunset when she saw two young men running toward them. One was tall with dark, shaggy hair, and the other was shorter with brown hair falling loosely against his glasses. "Rizu!" called the taller figure.

Rizu smiled as she rushed up to Jeison Ankokuno and threw her arms around him to give him a hug. "It's good to see you again, Jeison! I've missed you so much!" she exclaimed.

"Come on, Rizu!" chuckled Jeison. "It's only been a month or so!"

"But I haven't seen you since the battle against Deiraira! I really missed you guys!"

"How could you have missed me? I was still at Roganu Beach, remember?" teased Deibiddo Fushimawashino. "You were the one who dropped me after everyone else left, including Robu!"

Rizu blushed, which caused both Jeison and Deibiddo to let out a hearty laugh. "Sorry about that," she muttered.

"So, now the truth comes out," said Jeison. Giving Rizu a playful wink, he added, "Was he good?"

"I didn't sleep with him, you pervert!" cried Rizu, slapping Jeison on the arm. "After you all left, we had to go back to our regular routine until it was time for Robu to leave."

"Sure, you did."

"No, she's telling the truth. She's just as uptight and easily agitated since we last saw her," remarked Deibiddo. "Obviously, somebody didn't get laid while her prince was in town."

"Shut up, Deibi!" hissed Rizu.

"See what I mean?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean, but I didn't come here to talk about Rizu and her sex life with Robu," said Jeison. "I can do without the details."

"Thank Shinmei!" sighed Rizu as she started to walk toward the front door. "Hey, where are Megu and Ami? I thought they were coming with you, Jeison!"

"Megu told me to go ahead and order our food. They'll be here shortly."

"Well, what are we waiting for? I'm starving!"

Beronika rose from the bench and followed Rizu into the building, but she caught Jeison eyeing at her as if she was his chosen prey for the night and let out an unladylike snort. "Jeison," she greeted him stiffly.

"Beronika," he replied.

Hoping that the two girls were out of earshot, he turned to Deibiddo with a perplexed look on his face and asked, "Deibi?"

"Don't ask!" snapped Deibiddo through gritted teeth.

"Sounds like Rizu's found a pet name for you."

"Just go!"

Several minutes later, Raura Tomizawa came out of the kitchen and passed the quartet's table to deliver several drinks to the party of four sitting across from them. She looked back at Beronika and gave her a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry I can't help you guys tonight," she apologized. "I told the girl at the counter to put you at one of my tables! I don't know why she didn't listen to me!"

"Maybe because you're at work," muttered Deibiddo into his wine glass.

"It's okay, Raura," assured Beronika gently. "Besides, I think I saw your boss walking around here just a minute ago."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised," grumbled Raura. After briefly excusing herself from her customers, she walked over to Beronika and added, "The guy that started this place is here tonight to evaluate all of us before Monday. He wants to make sure everything is going smoothly by the time schools starts next week. Apparently, we're projected to have more sales now that the school's networking site has gone global and we've got a fan page for people to join. And we finally got the online menu available on the internet!"

"So, in other words, Sukoti's is gonna be popular in a few weeks?" asked Jeison.

"That's what the boss is saying," said Raura, "and that's the reason why the CEO came by for a visit. But there's also been talk about the prices going up next month."

"What?" cried the quartet.

"You can thank the stupid Americans for it too!"

"Why the Americans? What did they do this time?" asked Rizu.

"It's that war in the Middle East they're trying to control," explained Raura. "Apparently, there are some oil wells that the Americans once owned, and the Americans went over there to take them back."

"That's not what I heard!" argued Beronika. "They're over there to take care of the Iraqi and stop the terrorists!"

"Then, how come the President of the United States changed courses overnight a several years ago and sent his troops from Afghanistan to Iraq without finishing the job? Their number one suspect is on the loose, and all the President cares about is his damn oil! He wants his wells back! And since we provide cars for the Americans to drive, we have to rely on their gasoline and ours to ship them overseas! That's why the cost of transportation is high everywhere around the world, and that is why the prices have gone up, including the cost of food!"

"But this stuff is already expensive as it is!" complained Beronika.

Raura let out a heavy sigh of resignation and said dismissively, "Then, I suggest you guys start reconsidering where to eat out at the Village after tonight."

"Like there isn't any other good place to eat at," snorted Jeison.

"What about the Village Pizzeria down the block? I went there a few times with some friends last year, and it's pretty good. There's quite a selection for everyone, including B with her lactose intolerance, and the prices are reasonable."

"I guess a visit to the pizzeria wouldn't be so bad," said Rizu. "We'll certainly have to look into it."

Raura looked over Rizu's head and noticed that her boss was standing outside the kitchen door with his arms crossed over his chest and a grim expression on his face. "Sorry, guys, but I have to get back to work," she said sadly. "I hope you enjoy your dinner."

"I'll see you when you get back," promised Beronika.

Shortly after Raura followed her boss back into the kitchen, Megu walked through the main entrance, followed by a taller girl with thick dirty blonde hair and a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses that was similar to Robu's. "Sorry, I'm late," apologized Megu hastily as she motioned the other girl to sit down in the empty stool next to her. "Mama held me up and asked me to do a quick chore before I left."

"What was it this time?" asked Jeison.

"My stupid bird decided to become a pig and spilled seed and water all over the carpet! I had to vacuum my room _twice_ to get it all out of the threads!"

"That sounds like a personal problem to me," retorted Deibiddo. "So, who's your friend?"

"Oh, her? This is my cousin and best friend Ami Umino," replied Megu. "She just transferred here from Tokyo University."

"She's from Tokyo?" asked Rizu in amazement.

"Hardly," snorted Jeison. "Ami's a pure Oukan native just like me and Megu. She only moved to Tokyo last year because she wanted to become a lawyer."

"So, why the change?"

Ami lowered her menu and took a quick sip of her water. "Well, I finally realized that law wasn't my thing and that I wasn't never meant to be a lawyer in the first place," she began softly, "I took a debate course in my first semester because it was required for all freshmen law majors to take as part of their program. The class was designed to weed out those who wouldn't make a good lawyer in the courtroom.

"I was one of the several students who were knocked out during the second drop-add period after midterms. My professor told me that I was too kind and sympathetic in my arguments, and if my opponent had a point that I couldn't argue against, I gave up. It was one thing for it to happen in my first debate, but my problem continued into the second and the third one. That's when I was asked to drop out of law and do something that I really liked instead. So, I chose radiology."

"Why? That's a totally different career!" said Beronika.

"Ask Megu or Jeison. They know how much I like to take care of people. I could have chosen to be a doctor or a nurse, but I just want something in between where I can enjoy my job. Radiology isn't as stressful as being a doctor or a surgeon, but it's more fascinating than being a nurse. Think of all the things I can learn through x-rays and computers that a chart couldn't do!"

"But why Oukan? Tokyo has _the_ elite nursing school in the country!" cried Deibiddo.

"Yes, but Oukan has a nursing program that is just as good as Tokyo's," countered Ami. "I could have stayed in Tokyo, but I was getting homesick. I'm just not used to being so far away from my family."

"I see."

"So, what are you big plans this year?" asked Rizu.

Ami had just opened her mouth when Megu spoke up for her. "She's gonna be bidding for my sorority next month when Jeison bids for his fraternity."

Jeison arched his right eyebrow at his cousins and asked, "Is that so? The last time I checked Ami wasn't into the party scene."

"That's not what she told me!" argued Megu. "She said that she would love to be in my sorority!"

"Because you have so much free time!" elaborated Ami. "I didn't expect you to take me literally, but you should know that I don't care for large parties, especially parties that involve alcohol!"

Megu took a deep breath to hold back the rage that was building up inside her body. Turning to her friends with a feigned smile, she said to them, "We'll be back."

She grabbed Ami by the arm and led her toward the restrooms toward the back of the pub. Once they were inside the ladies' room, she turned on her heels and looked up at her cousin with her jaws clenched in frustration. "Please, Ami! Help me out here!" she begged through her teeth. "I know you like your schoolwork and all, but I'm trying to help you to be more social! You're at a new school, and you really don't have any friends around here except for me! I'm trying to do you a favor!"

"And you think a sorority is gonna solve my problems?" shot back Ami. "Megu, I thought you knew that a sorority is more than just parties! I don't have time to go out, enjoy myself, and make connections with the community _and_ your 'sisters'! I came here to be close to home and get a better education, not to party and get myself drunk!"

"Ami, you are gonna get a better education!" promised Megu. "Look, I'm just worried about you! We're family and we're best friends! I want you to feel right at home at Oukan and not become some social outcast!"

Ami was taken aback by Megu's last statement, and she frowned at the thought of being isolated from the rest of the student body. "Is that you really think of me?" she choked.

"I didn't mean to say it like that!" apologized Megu. "I was talking about how other people would view you if all you do around here is studying! You need to get out from behind your books and enjoy your life!"

"Still, according to studies from the not-so-distant-past, Oukan is labeled as a party school by Japanese standards," reminded Ami.

"Forget data for once and enjoy life!"

"I _am_ enjoying my life, Megu, but I still got my boyfriend back at Tokyo—"

"You'll get to see him again, I promise! I just hope that he doesn't become another asshole in your life while you're away."

"Studies also say that long-distant university relationships don't last long," added Ami quietly.

Megu wrapped her arms around Ami and gave her a comforting hug. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be," she said. "Guys can be real jerks sometimes, and you certainly don't deserve one."

Ami gave her cousin a weak smile. The thought of her boyfriend of nearly eight months giving up distraught her greatly, but she refused to let her worry in Megu's presence. The last thing she needed was to have the redheaded spitfire make a special trip to Tokyo and return to Oukan with a restraining order for harassment. "Thank you," she said.

"And it's all right if you don't want to be in a sorority. I have no problem with it. Rizu and Beronika aren't in one, and I won't hold it against you if you don't join."

"Sororities aren't for everybody," said Ami.

"No, they're not," agreed Megu. "I know there's one that would fit Beronika perfectly, but she's too involved with dance. And Rizu's just too socially awkward. There's no way she could survive in one.

"Then, there's you, or what I thought was you. What happened to you, Ami? You used to be so popular when we were in high school! You did swimming and debate, and nobody cared if you were a bookworm or not! But now you've become a nervous wreck! You're not the same person I used to know!"

Ami lowered her eyes as she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she replied. "I guess something inside me snapped when I was on top of my game. I used to be so great at debating, and now I can't win an argument."

"For a former captain of the debate team, that's unheard of!"

"It happens."

"I can't believe this! You're back because you got homesick all of a sudden, you're taking classes for a different major than what you went to Tokyo for, and now you've become a complete stranger to me!" said Megu in disbelief.

"Everybody changes," murmured Ami.

"Yeah, but not for the worse!"

"What makes you think this is for the worse?" snapped Ami. "What if this is for the best? What would you know about changing? You never did!"

"That's because this is who I am," explained Megu.

"And what you're seeing is who I really am."

"No," said Megu softly. "It's who you've _become._"

Ami pursed her lips and had begun to walk out of the restroom when Megu's voice stopped her from opening the door. "This wouldn't have anything to do with your accident at the nationals, would it?" asked Megu.

Ami shut her eyes and gripped the silver handle tightly. "That," she spat under her breath, "was just the start of it all!"

"But you know it wasn't your fault! Why can't you let it go?"

"You don't know what it's like going for the gold and then making a complete fool out of yourself in front of hundreds of people across the country! You don't know because you've never let a greedy little bitch get the best of you when your guard was down!"

"Just because you got robbed from the chance of a lifetime doesn't mean you have to shut yourself out from the rest of the world!"

"I was robbed of my first love, Megu!" said Ami, whirling on her heels to face Megu. "I was robbed of the very thing that meant the most to me besides learning! That contest was the last time I ever stepped or jumped into a pool! I haven't swam since then, and nor will I ever again! I came back home to start a new life, a life that isn't tied to my past! The last thing I need is a reminder of that past and dwell on it! Now if you were really my best friend, you'd respect my decision and not question it! Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Megu said nothing as her mind absorbed every detail of Ami's story. She was aware that her cousin had developed a sudden fear of water, an element that she refused to part with, but she had no idea just how much the memory scarred Ami. Not only did it affect her mentally, but it had also affected her emotionally. Swallowing her pride, she nodded her head and broke the silence that lingered over them. "I understand," she said.

Back at the table, Rizu and the others had already placed their orders with their waitress shortly after Megu and Ami disappeared into the restrooms. Deibiddo kept checking his wristwatch every three minutes, and he was starting to become impatient. After his fifth glance, he let out a heavy sigh and groaned, "What's taking them so long? I've got a new piece to write before Monday!"

"Come on, Deibi!" teased Jeison as he took a swig of his beer. "Enjoy these few days of freedom while you still can! It's not like we have to be in class tomorrow morning!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Then, why do you let Rizu do it?"

"Because I know it gets on his nerves and he loves it every time I say it," replied Rizu on the other side of the table.

"I do not!" argued Deibiddo.

"Somebody's in denial," murmured Beronika.

"Okay, fine! Do you know why Rizu calls me Deibi? It's a pet name that I allowed her to use when we were seeing each other!"

"But you're not seeing each other anymore," said Jeison.

"I know that!"

"So, why haven't you asked Rizu to stop using your pet name?"

Rizu and Deibiddo lifted their eyes at each other and felt their faces turn red with embarrassment. "Well, I… I, uh, I meant to tell her that before we left for the summer!" answered Deibiddo gruffly.

"Sure," said Jeison suspiciously. "If it really bothered you back then, this wouldn't still be happening now. I hate to say this, man, but you're a glutton for attention from the ladies."

"If I'm a glutton for attention, then you're a glutton for affection, especially from girls who are out of your league!" retorted Deibiddo.

Jeison paused for a moment after he had placed his bottle against his lips and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know exactly what it's supposed to mean," replied Deibiddo as he shifted his gaze to Beronika.

Beronika shifted uncomfortably on her stool, but when she caught a glimpse of Megu and Ami returning from the restrooms, she let out a sigh of relief and said, "It's about time they got back!"

Megu hopped onto her stool and hastily apologized for her delay. "I'm sorry we took so long. I didn't mean to delay you guys even further."

"I'm sure you and Ami had quite a bit to discuss," said Rizu.

"I hope I wasn't much of an embarrassment to you guys," said Ami softly. "I didn't mean for our dinner to begin on a bad note."

"Oh, no, you're fine!" assured Beronika. Casting a stern look at Megu, she added, "Megu has the tendency to hear what she wants to hear for her own benefit."

"That and she likes to put her nose in other people's business," muttered Deibiddo as the memory of his walk in the park with Rizu came to his mind.

"That's my cousin for you," giggled Ami. "So, Jeison, are you still studying film?"

"Film and religion," corrected Jeison. "I'm still debating about going to the next level after I graduate. It depends on how the film industry's doing by then."

"Are you planning to further your education?" asked Beronika.

"I'm thinking about it. I might become a youth minister instead of a director."

"You could always direct religious films," piped up Rizu.

"If I could get a one-way ticket to America, I would go that route. It's just too risky here in Japan, and I can't afford to take such a gamble with the government hanging over my head and demanding money from me. I need to have a job that will write off my loans in a reasonable amount of time."

Ami pursed her lips together and nodded her head in understanding. "I'm sure you'll be successful no matter which direction you go," she said.

"Thanks."

Turning to Beronika, Ami then said, "I don't believe I've met you."

"The name's Beronika Hoshino," answered Beronika. "I'm a senior like your big cousin."

"Are you two dating?"

Upon hearing Ami's innocent question, Beronika started to choke on her _sake_ and fanned herself until she was able to regain her composure. "Heavens, no!" she exclaimed. "Jeison and I are just friends!"

"So, why is your face turning red, B?" taunted Megu.

Beronika placed her right palm against her cheek and felt heat radiating beneath her skin. She narrowed her eyes at Megu and muttered, "Shut up!"

"I think you two would make a cute couple," commented Ami.

"That's what I keep trying to tell her!" said Jeison. "She just won't listen!"

Ami chuckled into her glass as she took a quick sip of her water. "He's quite persistent, isn't he?" she asked.

"You have no idea," groaned Beronika.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I'm studying dance. I want to be a professional dancer and get a chance to perform on Broadway in America once I've established my career."

"That sounds like a nice dream."

"It is. Who knows? Maybe one day, I'll dance to some of Deibiddo's scores in a musical or something."

"Ha!" snorted Deibiddo. "We'll see about that!"

"Deibiddo, I hate to break it to you, but neo-classicalism is fading fast. You might not even become the next Beethoven if nobody is willing to support you."

"Why do you think I'm also taking music education classes?" reminded Deibiddo. "Whether I become a composer, a professional conductor, or a high school teacher, I'm gonna have a career that has some kind of relevance toward music because music is my life."

Ami smiled and then asked Rizu, "You must be Rizu, no?"

"Yeah," replied Rizu dryly.

"What are you aiming for?"

Rizu shrugged her shoulders and sipped on her _sake_ for a moment. Smacking her lips dry, she answered with a sigh of regret, "I'm not so sure now. I came here to be an English teacher, but that's gone out the window."

Beronika frowned and reached over to cover Rizu's hand with hers. "What happened?" she asked.

"I got a letter from my advisor after you guys left Roganu, and I was disqualified to advance to the third stage in the School of Education because of my grades," explained Rizu. "Don't get me wrong—I didn't fail or anything. It's just that they weren't sufficient enough for me to move on."

"How did your mama react?" inquired Jeison.

"No different than when I showed her my first set of final grades."

_"I can't believe you got kicked out of the School of Education!" shrieked Sherona as she waved the letter in her hand. "I thought you were doing okay in your classes!"_

_ "I was!" insisted Rizu._

_ "Well, apparently, having too many C's cost you your future!"_

_ "I'm sorry, Mama—"_

_ "Don't you 'sorry, Mama' me! Your papa and I didn't send you off to university to become a slacker like Emeri's grandson!"_

_Sherona laid the letter on the table and took a deep breath to relax her nerves. "Now," she continued, "you better think about what you're gonna do for the next two years. If you must take up the departmental English degree to receive your major, then do so. And I suggest that you find a minor that won't take too long to complete. I refuse to fork out more money if all you're gonna do is goof off and not try your hardest."_

"_I am trying my hardest!" protested Rizu._

"_You're not trying hard enough!" argued Sherona. "You shouldn't be coming home with these kinds of grades! Nobody's gonna hire you if your performance in the work force is average!"_

"_I'm sure somebody will hire me after I graduate!"_

"_I'm sure too… in the fast food industry!"_

"_Mama—"_

"_Erizabesu, you are going after a very important degree that can earn you money!" interrupted Sherona. "The English language is such a beautiful thing, and to have the ability to speak and write it here in Japan is a blessing! It's truly Shinmei's gift for those who can learn another language fluently!"_

"_That's the thing," muttered Rizu. "I haven't quite mastered English."_

_Sherona shook her head in disappointment and said gravely, "Obviously so. Your grades pretty much reflect your ineptness. Otherwise, we wouldn't have heard from the university today, would we?"_

"_No, Mama," replied Rizu._

"_To let this talent go to waste would be such a terrible, terrible thing, but if you choose to squeak by through life with average grades, don't expect employers to hire you right away. You'll be lucky enough if they put you through a competence session during your interview, but even so, I don't expect them to be content with the results." _

_Rizu lowered eyes as tears threatened to fall, and with her head down, she walked out of the kitchen and away from Sherona's cold stare._

"So, I made an appointment with my advisor, and we talked about me picking up the departmental degree as well as a minor," continued Rizu. "The only way I can use my major now is if I want to become an interpreter."

"What's good is interpreting if the interpreter can't do her job correctly?" snorted Megu. "It's not that I want to dash your hopes, Rizu, but I agree with your mama. Employers are not gonna look at you if you walk away from university with poor grades, and there are many companies that will test your English knowledge right on the spot! You have to prove to these employers that you are better than the next person in line for the job! If you can't, your failure is gonna swallow you up when that other person is hired and you're not!"

"You didn't have to be so harsh about it," mumbled Rizu.

"And sugarcoat the truth? I don't think so! We're all gonna be in the same boat with you one day when we get out of here, and we'll all have to take accountability for what we've learned and applied to our lives. How you do in the classroom now will determine how well you will do when you start looking for a job."

Everyone at the table sat in silence, but Ami was the first one to speak up and gave Rizu an assuring smile. "I don't know about you guys, but I think Rizu is destined to do something greater than teaching anyway," she said kindly. "'Those who can, can. Those who can't, teach.' And if Rizu isn't cut out to be a teacher or even an interpreter, I'm sure Shinmei has bigger things out there that are waiting for her."

Rizu looked at the mysterious cinnamon blonde across the table. She felt a chill running down her spine when her eyes locked with Ami's, and she watched the young woman's lips curl into a knowing smile. For a moment, she thought that Ami had seen right through her and exposed her secret to the world, but Ami's smile faded just as quickly as it had appeared.

As the waitress came to the table to deliver the appetizers, Rizu continued to stare at Ami while her friends began to eat. _There's something about her that doesn't seem right,_ she pondered. _It's like she knew who I really was. How could an ordinary person figure me out in just seconds?_

She shifted her gaze to her _sake_ and dismissed all thoughts about Ami with a long sip. _Then again, what _is_ ordinary?_

After watching Ami climb inside the city bus outside Sukoti's, Megu turned to her friends and asked, "So, are we still planning to visit Geiburieru tonight?"

"As far as I know," replied Rizu. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay walking all the way back here by yourself?"

"I'll drop her off at her car," said Jeison. "Like I'm gonna let my little cousin roam the streets alone."

"Thanks, cousin, but I'll be fine," assured Megu.

"No, you let Jeison escort you," insisted Deibiddo.

Everyone, including Megu, turned their heads toward him in surprise. It was unusual of him to be concerned about her safety, but Deibiddo looked at them and asked in exasperation, "What? Am I not allowed to make sure she gets home safe and sound?"

"Since when did you start acting as Megu's white knight?" teased Jeison. "I thought Rizu was your responsibility!"

"I left that with Robu," huffed Deibiddo.

"Well, he's certainly doing a good job from where he's at," retorted Rizu as she began to lead the quartet back to campus and toward the university library.

"I'm sure you'll see Robu again before the summer comes," said Beronika. With a mock sigh of defeat, she added, "Although, he was kinda cute in a nerdy way."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Rizu suspiciously.

"Nothing."

"You're not thinking about hooking up with him, are you?"

"What's it to you, Rizu? You two are nothing more than good friends with benefits. It's not like he's officially your boyfriend."

"You wouldn't!" gasped Rizu.

"What? We're both single! It's only natural for me to feel this way toward a good-looking guy, even if he likes to play _Pocket Monsters_ in his free time!"

Rizu felt her control snap in half, but Jeison stopped her in time as she was preparing to launch herself onto her old roommate. "Now, now, Rizu, settle down!" he chuckled. "B knows better than to mess around with your guy like that. Your handprints are practically all over him! And besides, B isn't into nerds."

"Nope. She's into wannabe surfers," taunted Megu.

Beronika harrumphed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You guys are impossible!" she said.

"You keep telling yourself that," said Jeison slyly, "because one day, you won't be able to resist my charm."

"That'll be the day when your charm loses its spark!" shot back Beronika.

Several minutes later, the quintet stepped inside the library from the south entrance and walked through the metal detectors without setting them off. They looked toward the circulation desk hoping to find their heavenly mentor sitting on the other side, but instead they found a male graduate checking out books for a two sophomore students.

Rizu frowned and felt her shoulders slump from the great weight of disappointment that had fallen on her. "He's not here," she mumbled.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," called a voice near the restrooms.

Sitting in front of the new library café by the metal detectors was Geiburieru with a plastic cup of freshly brewed tea in his hands. "Although I was starting to believe you five would wait until the last second to visit me," he added.

"Already becoming a patron to the café, are we?" jested Jeison.

"It's not as good as the tea I make in my office," admitted Geiburieru dryly, "but it wouldn't look good if a librarian didn't support the newest annex. And, really, I ought to stop resorting to tea as my one and only drink here on earth. I find it as addicting as coffee is to you young ones."

He took a quick sip, which earned him a few chuckles from the quintet, and rose to his feet. "I see you've already had quite a reunion tonight," he continued as he led them toward his office on the other side of the circulation desk.

"Not much of a one," sighed Rizu. "We haven't had much time to talk about business."

"Oh?"

"I invited my cousin Ami for dinner, and we kept the whole demon-fighting thing out of the picture," explained Megu.

"Wise decision, Megu. And just how is Ami doing now that's she back in Oukan?" asked Geiburieru.

"You know her?" asked Megu.

"I'm an angel! I know everything about everybody on this planet! And just for the record, you really ought to stop putting words in people's mouths where they don't belong. You thoroughly embarrassed Ami tonight, no?"

Megu's face turned red with embarrassment as her friends laughed softly to themselves. "You just love to make my life miserable, don't you?" she grumbled.

"Angel, Megu, not a demon. I don't make lives miserable just for fun."

As he unlocked his office, Geiburieru escorted the quintet inside and gestured Deibiddo to shut the heavy door for privacy. "Now," he began, sitting down in his computer chair at his desk, "I believe when you last saw each other, the total count for awakened Angelic Guardians was up to six, thanks to Robu. As of tonight, we are one step closer to having all twelve Guardians accounted for."

"Why? Has there been another Guardian located on campus?" asked Rizu.

"Two to be exact," replied Geiburieru. "Their Seed Crystals have already been activated through my brother Mikaeru."

"Mikaeru?" asked Jeison as he propped himself against the wall with his arms crossed. "What does he have to do with them?"

"They were trained and mentored under Mikaeru while they attended Tokyo University," elaborated Geiburieru. "Only one of the two was ever under my care before Mikaeru took over."

"When was this?" inquired Rizu.

"Around the time you were in high school, Rizu. He was part of your old team."

"You mean we're not her first?" asked Beronika.

"It's a very complicated story, but you are the first team to possess true Seed Crystals. Nine out of the twelve of you have a direct connection with the Fruit of the Spirit. This Angelic Guardian, in particular, has one of the nine Seed Crystals that is essential to your army."

"And the others?"

Geiburieru turned his head to Rizu, and his face fell as he recalled the fall of the original Angelic Guardians of Roganu. "Aside from this Guardian, Tamashii was the only other survivor after the first battle against Myoujou," he replied.

"What happened?" asked Megu.

"When Tamashii graduated from high school and chose to live a normal life, we all believed that Myoujou was gone for good. There was no demonic activity that first year, but the lesser Guardians grew frustrated and angry with Shinmei. They wanted to go back to their sinful nature because they found the _kurisuchan_ life boring, and by denouncing their faith, they were able to destroy their Seed Crystals and the Angelic Guardians that lived inside them.

"I thought all was lost until I found out that the lone Guardian of the group survived by disguising himself as a _mushinsha_. While he was with his friends, he sinned, but when he wasn't, he was protecting Roganu and, later, Tokyo."

Deibiddo narrowed his green eyes as he listened to Geiburieru's tale. "I remember there were various groups of Angelic Guardians in the past," he murmured, "but they were of different cliques like you see in high school. They all didn't work together, and I wish I knew why."

"Because they all had different motives and approaches," answered Geiburieru. "Everyone has their way of attacking a problem, and everyone has their preference of defense. I don't expect all of you to agree on one thing, but I do expect you to realize that you have a common enemy. Failing to do so will result in being blindsided by your selfishness."

The quintet remained silent until Jeison spoke up with a voice that was laced with venom. "So, what's the deal with Mikaeru's little group on our turf?" he spat. "Did he assign them here to help us protect Oukan?"

"Jeison!" admonished Beronika.

"No, Beronika, Jeison has every right to question their arrival," said Geiburieru, "but it's not my place to fill you kids in on every detail. All I know is that they've come to Oukan University to carry out a special mission."

"What mission?" demanded Jeison.

"One that Shinmei has yet to disclose to me. It somehow involves the university—"

"And he didn't tell us this?"

"Jeison, let me finish!" snapped Geiburieru. "If Shinmei wanted you to partake in this mission, I would have told you! But as you can see, you are to continue protecting the campus from Myoujou's next attack!"

"But why these new Guardians?" growled Jeison.

Geiburieru pursed his lips and lowered his gaze with a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. "These Guardians have powers that cause serious damage to your enemies," he replied. "From what I've gathered from Mikaeru and our other brother Azuraeru, it seems that this new of demons are not demons at all."

"What are they?" asked Beronika.

"We're not sure at this point, but whatever they are, your powers and weapons won't have any effect on them."

"And, yet, these new Guardians can defeat them?" snorted Jeison.

"I didn't say 'defeat', Jeison! I said—"

"I know what you said!" roared Jeison as he advanced toward the archangel's desk. "I wouldn't have a problem with these outsiders, but the fact that Shinmei has given them this mission in our territory hurts me!"

"Shinmei is doing what he knows is best for you!" said Geiburieru.

"If he knows what's best for us, he could start by trusting us!"

"This isn't an easy task for the five of you!"

"And he gave it to two Guardians who aren't from here!" hissed Jeison. "The power in my scythe took down Kureopatora and several minor demons! What makes you think it won't stand a chance against Myoujou's new army?"

Geiburieru could feel his lips tighten as his patience began to grow thin with the Angel of Death. "If you knew what the word 'obedience' means, you would know better than to question Shinmei's decision!" he challenged quietly.

"I'm not questioning; I'm just demanding answers!"

"If all you're looking are just answers, you'll be looking for a very long time!"

"Not if I have a say in it!"

Jeison stormed out of the office with a loud bang of the door. As he began to walk down the hallway to the circulation desk, Beronika followed him with Megu and Deibiddo trailing right behind her. "Jeison, wait up!" called Beronika.

The door closed by itself with a soft click, and Rizu and Geiburieru were the only ones left in the empty room. Geiburieru sighed to himself and rested his head in his hands with his elbows propped on his desk. "I was afraid he would do something like that," he said aloud. "He never trusted them before."

"Why?" asked Rizu.

"Because they are outsiders of the Five," explained Geiburieru.

"But what about Robu? He's not part of our group either! Wouldn't he be considered an outsider too?"

"He would have been had he not gone over to the other side in this life like Jeison did under Kasushiusu's control."

"So, in other words, Jeison pitied Robu because he knew what it was like working for Myoujou, no?" asked Rizu.

"Yes, but there was more to it than just pity. Robu displayed his ability to lead the others in times when you are unable to do so, which, as you recall from a particular demon encounter on your birthday, impressed Jeison greatly during his visit to Roganu. When you sacrificed yourself over to Deiraira, it was Robu who took your place in the circle and protected your team when Kureopatora's army attacked them. Robu may be an outsider, but he's also the bridge between the Five and the remaining Angelic Guardians.

"I know Jeison is being protective of his home, but as Shi, he doesn't trust others easily. He always keeps his guard up until he has a reason to lower it."

"He was like that when he first came to us," agreed Rizu.

"And he'll always be that way."

"I just wish there was a way we can all work together," said Rizu. "We're all Angelic Guardians; we're one of the same! There shouldn't be a need to separate ourselves just because we think differently!"

Geiburieru cracked a small smile and said softly, "You're a sweet girl, Rizu. If only the others could be more like you."

Rizu walked back to her residence complex alone shortly after dismissing herself out of Geiburieru's office. Pain filled her heart with every step she took, and as she passed the parking structure, tears rolled down her face at the memory of Geiburieru's words.

_"You're a sweet girl, Rizu. If only the others could be more like you."_

"It's not fair," she muttered, reaching up to dry her eyes with the back of her right hand. "Why can't we all just get along? We'd be stronger that way."

She finally arrived at the set of glass doors to the fishbowl entrance and barely took notice of the two young men having a cigarette along the brick wall of the building. One man, a freshman with sandy blonde hair, sat on the bench next to the door while the other, a sophomore who was wearing a dark ponytail along the nape, stood in front of him and took a long drag as his companion continued their conversation.

Rizu thought nothing about them, but when she caught a glimpse of the dark-haired man, she felt her heart skip a beat. _Raian Daishizenno? There's no way it could be him! He doesn't even attend Oukan!_ she told herself.

The young man in question tilted his head to the side and noticed that Rizu was staring at him. Fearing that she was caught, she forced herself to move her feet and darted inside the fishbowl and into the social lounge to her left.

He curled his lips into a knowing smirk amidst the smoke of his smoldering cigarette as he pressed the tip against his mouth. _Erizabesu Hikarino... at last, we finally meet again,_ he thought.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

The Ghost of Her Past – A Certain Shade of Green!

In her dream world that night, Tamashii rested her head against the cold bark of her favorite weeping willow tree as the cold wind gently howled above her. A slight sting brushed against her cheek, and she flinched in response. _Since when did the cold start to bother me?_ she pondered. _It's almost as painful as what Jeison said to Geiburieru._

The wind picked up, and she drew up her knees to her chin to protect herself from the icy breeze. Tears threatened to fall from the corner of her eyes, and she felt empty and alone without anyone to keep her warm. It had been weeks since she had last seen both of the dream world's guardians—Seijitsu and his black wolf Seiji—and she was starting to wonder if either of them had failed to keep their promise should she ever needed their company in the dream world.

_It's not like Seijitsu or Seiji to ignore me like this,_ she thought. _They said they would come to me at any time, but I haven't heard from either of them since Seijitsu went away. Why aren't they coming? Where could they be?_

As the snowflakes began to increase in size, Tamashii picked herself up from the ground and brushed off the white dusting on her skirt. She had just caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure across the frozen lake in front of her when she lifted her head up, and she gasped in surprise. "Who's there?" she demanded.

The figure was hidden beneath a forest green cloak that swayed in the wind, and Tamashii instinctively knew that her intruder was another male Angelic Guardian after taking notice the body build. Only his face was covered by the hood on his head for protection.

_But that can't be Seijitsu or Shi,_ she thought. _Who is this person, and why is he doing in my dream world anyway?_

The mysterious _senshi_ smirked and stretched out his right hand with his palm facing up, beckoning her to cross the lake. "Come, Tamashii," he called to her.

Tamashii took several steps back, never tearing her gaze off of him, until she had felt the rough bark of her tree scratching her spine. Reaching up to cling onto one of the weeping branches for support, she cried, "Go away! Get out of here!"

The _senshi_ lowered his hand and frowned at her. "You really don't remember me, do you?" he asked quietly.

"I've never seen you before! Now, get out before I make you! You don't belong here!"

"Tamashii, please, just listen to me!"

"GET OUT!"

The _senshi_ opened his mouth to protest, but when he saw the golden light of Tamashii's arrow flying directly at him, he disappeared out of the dream world as the arrow zoomed through where he stood.

Tamashii let out a sigh of relief and flopped back down against the willow's trunk. "Serves him right," she huffed as her bow vanished from her hands. "What makes him think he can come here without my permission?"

As soon as her words escaped from her lips, her eyes flew open in realization. "But I didn't give him permission to enter in the first place!" she gasped.

She shifted around and began to pound loudly on the trunk and yelled, "Hey, Rizu! Wake up! We need to see Geiburieru now! Get up!"

Rizu mumbled in her sleep as the alarm clock next to her head buzzed loudly amidst Tamashii's hollering inside her mind. With her face buried into her pillow, her left hand crawled out from the sheets and reached around for the screaming device. She wrapped her fingers around the black face, and in one fluid movement, she flipped switch to the right to shut off the alarm.

Lifting her head, she pushed aside the curtain of wild curls that had fallen over eyes in her sleep and read the current time. It was ten o'clock, and the hall custodian would be arriving on her floor sometime in the next hour to clean the washroom. _And I'm in dire need to take a shower,_ she thought as she forced herself out of bed.

She stood underneath the steady flow of hot water in the furthest shower stall several minutes later, allowing the stream to cascade over her body as her mind drifted to her dream. Reaching for the shampoo bottle between the metal pipes, she began to scrub the oil out of her hair and continued deciphering the meaning behind the mysterious Angelic Guardian's question.

_You really don't remember me, do you?_

Rizu stilled her hands for a moment and lowered her gaze to her feet. _Was I supposed to?_ she inquired to herself.

Banishing the thought with a shake of her head, she resumed her task and then stepped back under the water to rinse the suds out of her hair. _No matter what, I need to talk to Geiburieru about this,_ she added. _It's too risky to bring it up to the others after what happened last night, and Robu wouldn't be much help either. He must be in class by now._

"_That and you haven't heard anything from him or Seiji since they left Roganu,"_ reminded Tamashii in the back of Rizu's head. _"Even if you could see them in the dream world, they probably have no idea what's going on. They wouldn't be very useful at this point. Your best bet is to go to Geiburieru. He seems to be the only one with the answers."_

Rizu had opened her mouth to scold her counterpart when she heard a loud noise coming from her stomach. "After lunch," she said aloud.

Shortly after brushing her teeth, she returned to her room and carefully dressed herself without disturbing Keitorin from her sleep. She slipped her damp ponytail through the opening in the back of her brown newsboy hat as she looked over herself in the mirror on the other side of the door to her armoire. She pulled out a few tendrils on each side of her head and allowed them to hang loosely around her face. "That should work," she said to her reflection.

She quietly grabbed her keys and identification card from her bucket of toiletries and walked out into the hallway where several girls were moving into the rooms across from hers. She made a left-hand turn past the garbage and recycling room and walked by the closed door to her old home further down the main wing. She slowed down her speed as she locked her eyes with the three-digit number that would forever be burned into her mind. _I'm gonna miss you, 306,_ she thought with a sad smile. _I hope your new tenants treat you well._

Just as she strolled past the open doors to Micchi's office on the first floor, she heard him call to her, "Hey, Rizu! Come in here for a moment! I need to talk to you about something!"

Rizu turned around with a reluctant sigh on her lips and entered the double room without murmur. Flopping onto the far cushion of the couch between the door and Micchi's desk, she said scathingly, "Whatever it was, I didn't do it."

"I know you didn't," chuckled Micchi as he idly played with his pen. "I didn't mean to disturb you from whatever you were planning to do. I just wanted to know how things were going with you and Keitorin."

"You're asking me this on the second day back?" asked Rizu.

"Well, you know, it's not too late to change roommates—"

"Micchi, what are you trying to say?"

Micchi leaned back into his chair and paused for a moment before he replied, "I'm still not too sure if I paired you up with the right roommate. I was looking for someone in the building who had a similar personality to yours, and the last thing I wanted to do was either assigning you to a room with a freshman or putting you in another residence complex. I mean you've got quite a personality, but it doesn't blend in with the other students, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," muttered Rizu.

"Don't get me wrong, Rizu. It's very unique, perhaps too unique."

"What does my personality have anything to with Keitorin?"

"Well, ever since Beronika took you under her wing last year, you don't seem to be the quiet kind like you used to be as a freshman."

"You weren't here when I was a freshman!"

"Yes, but I heard about you when I settled in that summer. Your old hall director had quite a chore on her plate when she left, and I took up that chore."

"Which was?"

"Finding a more suitable roommate than your first one," answered Micchi. "Most of your hallmates had already made final arrangements before your spring finals, and there were only a handful of you who had double rooms without someone to share them with. I had the most difficult time with you, but I knew exactly what you needed: a roommate who was willing to help you become a better person than leaving you wallowing around in your loneliness.

"That's why I paired you up with Beronika. I found her profile through the social networking website, and I knew she was good for you when I got a feel for her personality. Even though you two did clash, she also brought the inner extravert out of you."

"And you think Keitorin will reverse all that?" asked Rizu.

"That's entirely up to you," replied Micchi. "It's your decision whether or not Keitorin plays a big part in your regression. People can't make you change your personality, but they can influence you to do so."

Rizu shifted on her cushion and took a deep breath to ease her nerves. "I appreciate your concern, Micchi," she began, "but I don't think you need to worry about me. I'm still keeping in contact with Beronika, and I've made a few close friends last year."

Micchi closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment. "What about trying to get Keitorin out of her comfort zone?" he challenged. "Have you ever thought about that?"

"Are you trying that hard to get me to become friends with her?" asked Rizu.

"Rizu, let me tell you what's happened to that girl before you start judging her based on first impressions," said Micchi. "Keitorin went through two roommates in her first semester, and she ended up rooming alone when she got back from the holidays. No one wanted anything to do with her because she's just as painfully shy as you were. She was completely alone without any friends. Does this sound familiar to you?"

"Awfully," confessed Rizu quietly.

"Then, I would appreciate it if you can do something to make sure history doesn't repeat itself. I'm not asking you to be bosom buddies, but if you want to don't want to room with another student next year, I suggest you be more open-minded toward people like you."

"What makes you think I'm not open-minded toward her?"

"You were gone for quite a while yesterday," answered Micchi. "I noticed that you had left for lunch, and you were only around for maybe an hour or so after that. Had I not seen her leaving the building, Keitorin would have spent dinner all by herself in the food court."

"You mean you had dinner with her and not your wife?"

"Heavens, no! I would never exclude my wife like that!" chuckled Micchi heartily. "Beki and I just had our evening jog around the campus when we saw Keitorin in the fishbowl. We asked where you were off to, and she told us that you had gone to the Village to meet up with some friends."

"I see," sighed Rizu. "I guess I've already made a bad impression of myself, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that, Rizu, but that was the same excuse Keitorin's roommates used over and over again. Certainly, you don't want to become like them, do you?"

"No, sir."

Micchi watched her lower her gaze to her lap and gave her a small smile. "I hope I'm not holding you back from wherever you going," he said.

"Oh, not at all!" assured Rizu. "I was just grabbing a bite to eat at the food court."

"Alone?"

"Yeah. I'm planning to stop by the library after that."

"I see," said Micchi. "Well, go and have a good afternoon out."

"I will," replied Rizu, rising to her feet to exit the office.

Just as she crossed the threshold, Micchi added, "Rizu, I just worry about Keitorin sometimes, but I worry about you too. Your personalities are so much alike, and that's why I assigned you to her this year. I can only pray that you follow my advice and see her as more than just a roommate. Get out and do something together! If you need to, think of her as another Beronika Hoshino!"

_Easier said than done, _thought Rizu wirily. "I'll try."

Rizu cut through the courtyard near the north entrance of the library, but as she drew closer to the food court across the street, she stopped in her tracks and let out a sigh of exasperation. She could see a line of people at the main door waiting to find a place to eat their lunch. Off to the south, she saw another line that had extended to the scramble light past the School of Education.

"This is just great!" she grumbled. "It'll probably take hours before I can get anything to eat, and I can't afford to go to the Village every time!"

With a huff, she flopped down onto the edge of the fountain and fumed to herself. From the corner of her right eye, she caught a glimpse of movement in the water and found a school of fish swimming past her beneath the surface. She shifted around the ledge for a more comfortable position and idly ran her hand through the cool, refreshing water. One fish brushed against her index finger, which made her giggle to herself for a moment.

"I never expected you to be a fish lover."

Rizu jumped at the soft sound of a young woman's voice coming from out of nowhere, but when she lifted her head up to see who was talking to her, she watched Ami walking toward her and taking the empty spot on the ledge next to her. "I didn't mean to frighten you," apologized Ami.

"It's nothing," assured Rizu as she shook her hand dry. "I'm easily surprised these days."

"I see. So, what are you doing out this early on a Saturday? Shouldn't you be sleeping in?"

"On move-in day weekend? Are you kidding me? With all the noise going on outside my room, why bother?" snorted Rizu. "No, I actually hoping to get something to eat at the food court, but I doubt that's gonna happen any time soon. What about you?"

"I thought I would swing by campus and do some light reading in the library," replied Ami.

"Are you sure you're related to Megu?" jested Rizu.

"Is it that hard to believe?"

"After getting to know your cousin quite well last year, I'm afraid so."

"Megu is quite a character," said Ami with a small smile, "but just because she likes to lead a wild life doesn't mean that I'm going to. I'm quite content being different than her."

"You are?"

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"N-n-no!" stammered Rizu. "Nothing at all!"

Ami frowned and said, "I know you're not being honest with me, Rizu. Why are you so against people choosing to stand out among their peers?"

Rizu sighed in defeat and lowered her shoulders. "Let's just say that I went to a school where being different was not a smart idea," she said. "It's not that I have anything against those who wish to be different and be proud of it, but it makes me feel envious when everybody around them accepts them just the way they are and they couldn't accept me. It's so unfair."

"I'm sorry," said Ami apologetically.

"Yeah, me too."

"Why do you pity yourself, Rizu? Don't. It's not your fault your classmates refused to see the real you. In fact, I think you're a very attractive girl inside and out. You've got such a beautiful soul and a wonderful personality. It's such a shame you've been overlooked by many."

Rizu blushed at Ami's compliment, but she felt awkward and wondered if she was being hit on by another girl. "By many, you mean guys, right?" she squeaked.

"Guys _and_ girls," replied Ami.

Rizu's face turned a deeper shade of red, which caused Ami to giggle to herself. "I see what the problem is now. I'm sorry if I made you think I was flirting with you, Rizu," she said. "I guess you don't take compliments that well, no?"

"Not from other girls," confessed Rizu. "Such talk is usually reserved for a guy."

"That's not true. I've heard girls say things like that to each other in a platonic way, but you assumed that I had a thing for you like a man does for a woman. I don't play like that. I prefer a man's company any day. You just need to stop being biased and learn to relax around others."

Ami glanced down into the water and watched the fish swim around the fountain. "It's a shame we can't be so carefree like the fish," she continued. "Look at how they swim so gracefully and easy. If only our busy lives could be just as peaceful as theirs."

Rizu turned to Ami in confusion. "But what about the fish that live in the sea with the sharks and the whales? Where's the peace in that?" she asked.

"Fish don't worry about such thing until they feel threatened at that very moment. That's the only time peace is ever gone," explained Ami. "The next time you see them at the city aquarium, observe their behavior and pay close attention to the number of times they move about elegantly. You will notice that there isn't a single worry on their mind."

"Why is that?"

"Because they know they're safe from all harm, just like we are when we're under Shinmei's care."

Rizu perked her ears at the mentioning of the Ruler of Heaven's name. "You're a _kurisuchan_ too?" she gasped.

"You could say that," replied Ami. "Why? Did you think I wasn't one?"

Rizu became flustered, and her mind frantically tried to find the right words to say without hurting Ami's feelings. "Well, I, uh… I just didn't expect you to be so open about your faith like that!" she admitted.

"Oh, Rizu, you're so funny," giggled Ami behind her right hand. "I'm glad to have finally sat down and talk with you away from everybody. You seem to be a sweet person."

"Well, thanks," said Rizu shyly.

"And I apologize for last night. I didn't mean to bring up a sensitive subject. I didn't know that you were dismissed from the School of Education."

"No one did," sighed Rizu, "but they were going to find out one way or another. It was only a matter of time."

"Yes, it was," agreed Ami.

She looked over Rizu's head and smiled to herself. "Well, I guess you better get your lunch while you still can," she said. "I'm sure you can now find a place to eat."

Rizu shifted around to discover the two long lines outside the doors to the food court gone, and she began to wonder if what she had seen was nothing more than a mere illusion. "I guess so," she murmured.

She turned her head to bid Ami farewell, but to her surprise, her companion had disappeared without a word. She rose to her feet and looked past the fountain to find the Ami approaching the library at a brisk pace. "What a strange girl," she said to herself.

"Rizu!"

Rizu raised her hand to grab the cook's attention as she stood off to the side in front of the Oukan Grille & Sandwich Shoppe. "Over here!" she called to him, forcing herself through the crowd of people who were still waiting for their orders.

The chef made his way across the kitchen and handed her a plastic container over the counter. "Enjoy your lunch," he said with a curt nod.

"Will do. Thank you."

Placing the container on her tray, she walked over to the fountain drinks near the check-out lanes and grabbed a small, clear cup from its sleeve next to the dispensers. She had begun to fill the cup with ice when she noticed the handsome young man from the night before standing in line with his smoking buddy at the grille. He was wearing a black hoodie with long stripes of red, yellow, and green running down his sleeves, a pair of cargo pants, and a pair of black and white checkered tennis shoes that were sold exclusively at Lolita's Closet.

_And he's got that blasted ponytail too, _thought Rizu._ I'll be damned if that isn't Raian Daishizenno!_

Suddenly, she felt her hand getting wet from all the ice cubes that were sliding off her cup, and she realized that she had overfilled it after staring at him longer than she had intended. "Shit!" she cursed loudly.

He looked over his shoulder, and Rizu's brown eyes immediately locked with his green orbs. _Double shit!_ she swore to herself, tearing her gaze away before he could chastise her. _It _is_ him! It's just got to be!_

Her heart pounded wildly against her chest as she emptied half of her cup into the tray beneath the drink dispensers. With a shaky hand, she filled it with water and placed a matching lid to seal it shut from spilling all over her lunch. _Why am I even acting this way?_ she pondered.

_"Maybe because he never talked to you when you wanted him to,"_ she heard Tamashii speak to her, _"and now that he's here in the flesh, you're hanging onto that sliver of hope again. Honestly, Rizu, why waste your time on a guy who ignored you for three years of high school?"_

Rizu lifted her tray from the counter and carried it to the check-out lanes on the other side of the wall, sparing one last glance at the young man who was now standing in line with his back turned to her. _He did more than just ignoring me. He left me hanging until I graduated,_ she replied.

As if he heard her thoughts, he looked back at her with a frown on his lips.

Shortly after she had quickly consumed her lunch, Rizu crossed the busy street between the food court and the library and entered the building from the south entrance where she found Geiburieru looking over a list of new arrivals that were expected to be released in time for the first week of class. "Geiburieru?" she called as she approached the circulation desk. "Geiburieru, are you busy?"

The archangel lifted his golden head and gave her a worried look. He was not used to seeing Rizu seeking for his assistance or advice on a Saturday afternoon, and he had suspected something was wrong. "Not at all, Rizu," he answered, setting the printout aside on the counter. "Why? What's wrong?"

"I think I saw him last night in my dream."

"Who?"

"That one Angelic Guardian from my old team. He said something about me not remembering him. Do you have any idea why he would have come into the dream world?"

"I think I might have a notion or two," replied Geiburieru with a nod. "Care to discuss this in private?"

"Gladly."

Geiburieru led her to his office and shut the door behind her as she took a seat in front of his desk. "It would seem that he showed up in your subconscious to give you a message of some kind," he began, sitting down in his computer chair with a thoughtful gleam in his blue eyes. "How much of the dream do you remember?"

"Well, he had a dark green cloak with a hood over his head," said Rizu. "I couldn't see his face, but he sounded so familiar to me."

"It wasn't Seijitsu, was it?"

"No. I would recognize Robu's voice from anywhere. This Guardian didn't sound anything like Robu, but he acted so surprised that I didn't remember him. I'm almost sure that it's the same Guardian who has come to Oukan for that special mission, but I don't know if it is him. What do you think?"

"If you believe he is who you think he is, then that's exactly who he is," answered Geiburieru.

"So, he's here because of that mission, isn't he?" asked Rizu.

"More than likely."

"But why? Why him out of all the other Guardians? Why couldn't it have been Seijitsu if all Shinmei needs is a powerful Guardian to complete this mission?"

"Seijitsu might be powerful, but even what he has can't match the strength of Myoujou's new army. Robu was sent to Kirugoru for a reason in addition to his enrollment at the university. If he were to be assigned to help you protect Oukan with the others, Shinmei would have arranged it according to his plan.

"This Guardian was already awakened as well as the other one from Tokyo. They have what you need to defend yourselves against Myoujou's latest scheme. I wish Seijitsu could be of help to you as much as you do, Rizu, but these Guardians were called upon for a reason."

"I understand," sighed Rizu heavily.

Geiburieru took notice of the sad look in Rizu's eyes, but even behind the glassy surface of her irises, he saw a glimpse of her other concern that had been on her mind all throughout her meal. "Something else besides this dream is bothering you. What is it?" he inquired.

"I don't know if it's fate or if I'm just jumping into conclusions," muttered Rizu.

"Try me."

"You said that this Guardian went to Tokyo before he transferred here, no?"

"Yes, I remember saying such thing. Why does it bother you?"

"Because I've been seeing this guy around campus who reminds me so much of my crush from high school," replied Rizu with a mock laugh, "and he and his family ended up moving to Tokyo after he graduated the following year. I don't think my mind is playing tricks on me, but I could be wrong."

Geiburieru narrowed his eyes as his brain absorbed the important details of Rizu's account. _Didn't Mikaeru tell him to be discreet with his arrival?_ he thought. _He's gonna get caught if he's not careful, _if _he hasn't already!_ "Are you sure this guy is the same one you attended school with?"

"I don't know," said Rizu meekly. "He looks like Raian and all, and I get the same butterflies-in-the-stomach kind feeling every time I see him. I'm just too shy to ask him. If I had a single ounce of courage, I would, but I don't want to make a fool out of myself, you know?"

_Raian, as in Raian Daishizenno? _"Can you tell me more about this Raian character?"

"Well, he came from a rich family, and a lot of my classmates bought drugs off of him," answered Rizu. "It's amazing he didn't get caught."

"And his appearance?"

"He had dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and green eyes. I say he's about as tall as Deibiddo—"

_That's definitely him all right._

"—He even wore dreadlocks toward the end of my sophomore year."

Geiburieru snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head as he regained his senses. "I'm sorry, Rizu, but what did you say?" he asked.

"That he wore dreadlocks when I was finishing up my sophomore year. Why? Do you know him?"

_Dreadlocks, eh? I don't recall him ever wearing dreadlocks,_ pondered Geiburieru. _This is just as I feared: a slight ongoing manipulation of the mind._ "I know of him, but that doesn't mean that I know him personally." _Nice cover._

"I didn't think you would," said Rizu, "not unless I talked my ear off about him."

"Not as much as you do about Robu," teased Geiburieru. He laughed harder when he saw Rizu's face turn red with embarrassment. "You can't be that ashamed of yourself! It's only natural for a young woman to do such a thing when she's in love."

"But I don't want to sound like I'm obsessively compulsive with a guy!" whined Rizu. "Robu is very special to me, but Raian was—"

"Your first love?" finished Geiburieru.

"I wouldn't call Raian my first love," said Rizu. "He never reciprocated _any_ of my feelings." _Unlike Robu,_ she added mentally.

"What makes you think that he didn't return them?"

"I wouldn't be sitting here and talking to you as a single woman, would I?"

"Providing that you would still be with Raian," corrected Geiburieru.

Rizu shook her head as a small laugh escaped from between her lips. "It might be a coincidence, but I find it weird that this Angelic Guardian and this guy both came here from Tokyo at the same time," she said softly, "that is, if this guy is indeed Raian!"

_You might think of it as a coincidence, Rizu, but I don't,_ thought Geiburieru with a small, knowing smile. "Time will tell. Just you wait and see."


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Of Snakes and Demons – A New Threat Rises!

Deep in the darkest pits of Lake Cocytus, Myoujou, the Dark Demon of Hell, silently brooded on his icy throne as he continued to plot his revenge against the Angelic Guardians. He had lost not just one, not just two, but _three_ of his best demonic commanders in a matter of months: Kasushiusu, Kureopatora, and Deiraira.

Kasushiusu was the weakest of them all, and the news of his death did not surprise Myoujou when word reached his ears after Tamashii foiled his attempt to take over Oukan University. Both Kureopatora and Deiraira were alluring creatures and could use their beauty against their enemies, as Deiraira had proven when she had her eye set on Seijitsu, but he took a gamble by having them fight together against the Angelic Guardians. He only came out shorthanded in the end with two less commanders to his infernal army.

_And I don't have many choices left,_ he thought as his black gaze lingered on two sharp pieces of limestone that contained the frozen figures of Buruutasu, Kasushiusu's lover and accomplice in the assassination of Shi-za, and Judasu, Iesu's former treasurer who betrayed him in the _seisho_. He had planned to use them for a greater scheme, but he was also expecting to be further into his goal toward worldwide domination with the current Angelic Guardian team out of the picture.

_Those cursed Angelic Guardians handed me two losses since I've been revived, _he pondered bitterly, _and I have yet to make them suffer my wrath. I almost had their key to victory in my possession, but damn you, Seijitsu! Damn you and your heroic act of bravery!_

_I will find a way to destroy you all, and when I do, it will be glorious!_

A soft hissing sound filled the icy cavern, and Myoujou caught a glimpse of a python slithering its way toward his feet. The snake darted its pink tongue and wrapped its body around his monstrous legs as it climbed onto the arms of his throne. It crawled along the slick structure until its upper chest rested on Myoujou's right shoulder.

Beast and snake gazed at each other for a moment, and Myoujou curled his lips into an evil smile. "Yes," he purred, gently stroking the snake under its chin with his fingers. "Why didn't I think of it before? Your mistress would make a great addition to my army, wouldn't she?"

"If you would permit me, Master, I would be more than honored to deal with the Angelic Guardians myself."

Myoujou turned his head and found a beautiful sea green nymph dressed in one of Ancient Greece's lovely silk garments standing before him. Her skin was covered with scales tipped with gold, and she extended out her gorgeous wings on her back like those of an eagle. Around her neck was a heavy choker of gold with a keyhole that locked her head in place with the rest of her slender body.

He quickly tore his gaze away when he realized who was in his presence. Green snakes crawled about on the woman's head, hissing angrily at him for avoiding eye contact with their owner. "Calm down, my beauties," she crooned at them, affectionately stroking the small one next to her left ear that could have been mistaken for a loose curl. "We mustn't turn this one into stone."

"You do, Medosa, and I will see to it that your choker comes undone!" growled Myoujou. "I have no problem creating a similar key to the one I threw into the Lake of Fire when I brought you back from the abyss!"

"Why, Myoujou, you hurt my feelings! How dare you to think so little of me after hearing you say that I would make a great addition into your army!" gasped Medosa mockingly.

Myoujou let out a heavy, tiring sigh and then asked, "Why are you here, Medosa?"

"I've come to offer you my assistance in your conquest for universal control by destroying those pesky Angelic Guardians for you," purred Medosa.

"Why should I invest my time and energy on you when you were the one who was easily defeated by a mere mortal? The Angelic Guardians are just as strong as Puruseusu."

"But what good are the Angelic Guardians if they can't break free from a stony prison? Being half-mortal, they're still vulnerable against me. One wrong look and they'll be part of my statue garden. Now, dear Myoujou, unless you can think of another demon in all of the nine rings of Hell that can overpower me with a similar or greater ability, I don't see why you ought to turn down my services."

Myoujou stroked his chin as he pondered Medosa's offer for a long moment. He knew he had nothing else to lose except for the life of another demonic commander and a valuable amount of time, and he was not ready call upon either Buruutasu or Judasu from their eternal slumber. _But then again, what good are Tamashii's arrow and Shi's scythe if they can't see where they're striking?_ he thought.

Keeping his gaze on the python next to him, he said, "You do have a good point concerning your curse against mortals. Very well, Medosa. You may have full control over my army as long as you continue to serve me. Just take good care of my demons."

"Oh, I don't intend on using your army," said Medosa. "I've already gotten an army of my own ready to destroy the Angelic Guardians."

The sound of wooden balls colliding against each other filled the billiards room at the Student Center as Beronika took her pool stick and lined herself up behind the cue ball, taking aim at the 2-ball in the far left corner pocket in front of Deibiddo. The Hoshino-Ankokuno and the Hino-Fushimawashino teams were now tied at two a piece, and they only had enough time to play one more game before their hour was up.

Many students arrived at the annual Welcome Back Weekend Party, and the five Angelic Guardians refused to turn down four hours of free food, games, and crafts. They had been fortunate to get a pool table as soon as they got their bracelets, and Rizu was sent to the bowling alley to reserve a lane at eleven o'clock. The Student Center was packed with a large group of returning students, but it was nothing compared to the number of freshmen and transfer students who wanted to see what the Weekend Campus Parties were all about.

Jeison slid behind Beronika and covered her right hand with his toward the top of the pool stick while his left grabbed her other wrist at the end. "Now, let me show you how to do this," he whispered huskily into her ear.

Noticing how he was pressing up his body against the small of her back, Beronika shot him an icy glare and shoved her elbow into his upper chest. "I think I know how to play billiards, Jeison!" she snapped as she watched him back away to nurse his wound.

She shook her head with disgust and shot the cue ball into the 2-ball where the intended target then fell into the corner pocket perfectly. She turned back to her partner with a smirk and said cheekily, "Told you!"

"That was a cheap shot!" grumbled Jeison.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be putting a move on Beronika tonight," teased Deibiddo. "She's on a roll."

"Tell me about it! She's been scoring most of the points tonight! We would have been three-and-one if I didn't accidentally knock in the 8-ball at the start of the last game!"

As Beronika moved to shoot at the 7-ball at the other side of the table, Rizu stepped out of the women's restroom and walked across the room to meet up with her friends. "Did I miss anything?" she asked.

"Other than Jeison trying to play Mr. Smooth on your old roommate, not really," retorted Megu.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"We just got a few more balls to sink," added Jeison. "What time is it?"

"Fifteen after ten," answered Rizu as she checked her watch.

"I doubt we'll have time to do another game after this."

"Well, since Rizu got us a lane at eleven, why not take the advantage of the free pizza in the student lounge until then?" suggested Deibiddo.

"You know, pizza does sound good right now," remarked Megu as handed her stick to Deibiddo before she turned around and headed toward the hallway.

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Deibiddo.

"Getting us a booth in the lounge!"

"But we're not even done yet!"

"Yeah, we are!" assured Megu. "Beronika is gonna win the game! No need to stand around for nothing!"

"We'll see," snorted Deibiddo.

He almost swallowed his pride when he saw Beronika make a perfect split shot between the 4 and 5-balls as they fell into the two far corner pockets simultaneously. Smirking in triumph, she walked along the side of the table and mentally calculated the angle of the 8-ball that was lying up against the side railing across from the cue ball.

"There's no way she's gonna get that!" said Rizu quietly to Jeison and Deibiddo. "The ball's practically against the wall! I mean what's she gonna do? Call the lower right corner pocket?"

Beronika tapped her stick twice on the pocket to her far right. "Corner pocket," she announced.

"Lucky guess," grimaced Deibiddo.

"Now she'll determine how she's gonna shoot and how much pressure she needs to sink it in one shot," said Jeison as he watched his partner's eyes shift between the cue ball, the 8-ball, and her intended pocket. "She'll bend over, guide the cue ball to the left side of the 8-ball, shoot as hard as she can without scratching, and…"

The tip of the pool stick made a clean, loud hit as it connected with the cue ball, sending the white object rolling toward the left side of the 8-ball at a high velocity. The hard impact then caused the black ball roll back and forth against the sides in a zigzag pattern. Jeison bit the inside of his right cheek as the 8-ball rolled to the upper right corner, fearing that Beronika might have had called the wrong pocket by accident, but the ball clipped the metal corner instead, gradually slowed down as it barely touched the side wall at the end of the table, and rolled along the edge until it came to rest on the edge of the lower pocket.

Everyone held their breath except for Deibiddo who let out a sigh of relief, but because he was standing just above the pocket, the slight motion of air being released from his body brushed past the 8-ball and caused it to roll forward into the dark pit.

"And she scores!" roared Jeison.

"That was really cheap!" argued Deibiddo. "I breathed and it moved! I demand a rematch!"

"No can do," said Beronika. "It's pizza time, and I'm starving!"

"You don't expect me to believe you made that shot, do you?"

No one said a word to him as Beronika and Jeison put their pool sticks away on the wall rack and began to walk out of the room with Rizu trailing behind. Deibiddo let out a frustrating sigh and cried in exasperation, "Oh, come on!"

Megu had just taken a bite of her pizza when she noticed her friends entering the student lounge a few minutes later and waved at them from the far corner booth across from the small performing stage. "I'm over here!" she called.

With a slice of pizza and a can of cola in their hands seconds later, they piled into the booth on both sides of the table and began to work on their late night snack. "So, who won?" asked Megu.

"Who do you think?" asked Rizu with a knowing smile. "Deibiddo is having a hard time believing you were right."

"I told you she'd win."

"Whatever," grumbled Deibiddo.

"Is Ami coming?" asked Jeison, reaching over his plate to pop open his can.

"Nope," replied Megu. "She's busy."

"Surely she can't be studying! It's Saturday night, and school starts next week!" said Beronika.

"She said she had something more important to do than attending a campus party, but I don't remember her telling me anything about her boyfriend coming over tonight either."

Carbonated liquid nearly shot out of Jeison nose, and he began to choke on his pop. "She has a boyfriend?" he gasped. "Since when does Ami Umino date?"

"She's been seeing this guy for almost a year now, but I've a feeling it's not gonna work out. I mean there's quite a bit of distance between here and Tokyo."

"That's unlike of Ami to do something besides studying and spending time with this boyfriend of hers," said Jeison. "Come to think of it, she's been acting weird ever since she got here, and I still think her excuse to come home because she misses her family is rather fishy."

"What do you mean?" asked Beronika.

"When Megu and I went by her house to say our goodbyes last year, Ami was looking forward to leaving Oukan and start over with her life," explained Jeison. "She wasn't scared or anything. She was actually excited."

"I wish she would have told us the main reason why she came back," sighed Rizu. "I'm sure she has one."

"And even if she did, what makes you think she would have opened herself up to three complete strangers?" asked Deibiddo. "For all we know, it could be too personal for her to tell just anybody."

"Ami is a private person at times," continued Megu, "and she has withheld stuff from me and Jeison over the years. But regardless of it all, I agree with Jeison: there's definitely something strange about her story. She's usually truthful to us, and she rarely ever lies."

"I wonder where she could be right now," said Rizu.

"Who knows? It's Ami."

Just north of the Student Center, two figures—a young man in forest green and a young woman in blue—stood before the Oukan University Pillar Garden that was dedicated to the five Oukan brothers who founded both the city and university. It was the same location where the Angelic Guardians rescued Shi from under Kasushiusu's control prior to their spring vacation, but the Pillar Garden had a more powerful meaning to the two figures.

Each pillar represented a brother with his name engraved in the finest gold with an empty carrier at the top that was designed to hold a precious stone. The woman walked across the stone platform of the memorial and placed her right blue glove against the center pillar, sensing the dark magic that had surrounded the area.

Her male accomplice, too, felt the negative aura from where he stood and asked, "Well?"

"The crystals are somewhere around the school," replied the woman as she stepped away from the pillar. "They've been missing for quite some time. I'm not sure if this was Shinmei's or Myoujou's doing."

"Either way, we must find those crystals before the Dark Demon does," said the man as he turned his gaze to the gold angel fountain in the middle of the platform. "If we don't, he will use them to summon the Gates of Pandemonium, and all will be lost once they've been open."

"Yes," agreed the woman, "and the prophecies will have been silenced because of our failure."

"Let's hope the others won't interfere with our business. They'll cost us the future if they're not careful. We can't afford that to happen."

A black house bowling ball hooked around the far right arrow of the slick synthetic lane and plowed into the headpin from the side, using its quick speed to knock down all ten pins with a thundering boom. "Yes!" said Jeison excitedly. "Another strike!"

"And I thought you were better than this," teased Beronika to Rizu who was glowering at the scoreboard on the overhead screen from the pit.

"My time is coming," replied Rizu.

"Don't you mean your turn?" mumbled Deibiddo as he motioned her toward the ball return. "You're up."

"What? Are we a little jealous?"

"Rizu, you're only twenty pins behind Jeison with a spare in the last frame! You guys have practically blown the rest of us out of the water!"

"The game isn't over," reminded Rizu, picking up her twelve-pound pink house ball from the rack.

"It is for some of us," snorted Megu before she took a sip of her cola. "Come on, Rizu! Do it for us girls! Kick some Ankokuno ass! Show him who owns the game!"

"She won't," said Jeison confidently. "I've got her beat."

_We'll see about that,_ thought Rizu as she covered the middle dot on the approach with her right foot and the one off to the left of the center. Lining herself up with the spot between the first two arrows to her right, she glanced down at her hand wrist to make sure they were in the correct position. She took five steps forward, swung the pink ball back, and threw it down the alley with a perfect hook.

The ball clipped the headpin from the right, and Jeison watched in disbelief as a red "X" flashed under Rizu's name on the overhead screen. "No! No! No!" he whined. "She can't do this! I'm supposed to win!"

Rizu walked down into the pit and gave him a satisfying smirk in return. "Watch me," she said.

Just as she positioned herself to reclaim her seat next to Beronika, screams coming from the first floor filled the bowling alley, and many staff members from the OU Program Committee who had been stationed to overlook the basement activities rushed out of the room to see what was causing all the terror above them. Suddenly, the chairman of the committee got on the overhead speaker and yelled, "Everyone, evacuate the building immediately! This is an emergency; this is not a drill! Again, everyone evacuate the building immediately!"

The remaining students and staff members followed the chairman's frantic order and fled the Student Center, but the five Angelic Guardians of Oukan University remained behind as they stood motionless in the pit and watched their classmates run for their lives. "Well, this is certainly a nice way to start the new school year," remarked Rizu.

"What are we waiting for? We've got a crisis on our hands! Let's go!" barked Jeison.

The quintet rushed to the elevators next to the billiards room, and Deibiddo pushed the arrow to go to the upper level. "Why is it that whenever we try to have some time to ourselves, Myoujou always has to ruin the fun?" he grumbled.

"Because it's all part of karma," answered Beronika as the doors to the elevator doors slid open. Stepping into the car, she added, "and karma's a bitch."

"You don't suppose there's a demon up there, do you?" asked Megu to Deibiddo.

Deibiddo reached down into his pants pocket and pulled out his white and gold _henshin_ pen. "Demon or not, let's show this party crasher who they're messing with!" he replied. "Ready, you guys?"

"Ready!" affirmed his friends.

"Then, let's do it! _Inochi!_"

"_Shi!_"

"_Iinaka!_"

"_Medetai!_"

"_Tamashii!_"

The bright lights from their transformation faded as the elevator came to a stop in the hotel lobby, and the doors opened to reveal five Angelic Guardians—Tamashii, Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi—inside the car where their mortal counterparts once stood. The sound of trashcans, chairs, and tables being thrown all over the student lounge reached their ears, followed by a shrill demonic cry. "Whatever it is, it's coming from the student lounge!" cried Tamashii. "This way!"

When the quintet entered the student lounge down the hallway, they could not believe what they found. There in the middle of the room stood a raven-haired woman throwing chairs and turning over tables with a shove of her right arm, but there was also something about her that seemed rather odd to the Angelic Guardians. Hawk-like feathers covered every inch of her arms, and long feathers sprouted out from her backside. Her feet were giant talons with razor-sharp tips that scratched the tile floor as she hobbled to the pile of empty boxes that she had knocked over earlier in her rampage.

"Impossible!" breathed Tamashii. "That can't be what I think it is!"

"What is it?" asked Medetai.

"A… A harpy!"

The harpy let out a piercing cry of anguish and forced the Angelic Guardians to cover their ears for protection. The sound of their groaning caught her attention, and she turned to them with golden eyes full of fury.

"Shit!" cursed Shi. "She heard us!"

"We need to get out of here before she causes any more damage!" said Iinaka.

"Right! Let's take this battle outside! It's too dangerous to fight her like this!"

The harpy watched the quintet flee the Student Center, but she was determined to keep them from escaping her wrath. She flew across the room and used her mighty wing to break through the glass doors in the hallway. Hobbling up the brick staircase outside, she scanned the area for her prey but found nothing with her limited vision.

From the bushes along the building, a pair of purple fingers formed a pistol and aimed directly at the harpy's back. Just as Medetai's fingertips glowed with power, the harpy caught a glimpse of the attack from the corner of her eye, and she quickly flew over the bush where Medetai and Shi were hiding. She screeched at them as she tore the bush apart and began to claw mercilessly at them with her talons, leaving behind scratch marks and scars on their skin.

Iinaka popped out of her bush in the distance and formed a fireball in the middle of her left palm. "Flame Spike!" she cried as she hurled the flaming object toward her intended target.

The harpy noticed the approaching fireball, and she quickly hardened her arms to defend her face with her left wing. Feathers became as heavy as steel, and not a single burn was found on the monster when the flash fire subsided.

"She blocked my attack!" cried Iinaka in disbelief.

"But how's that possible?" asked Shi as he continued to hold Medetai in a protective embrace.

The harpy let out a loud cry and spat powerful wavelength at Iinaka. The red _senshi_ fell to the ground and instantly became paralyzed from the attack. "Damn, that's one tough bird!" she muttered under her breath as she tried to move her joints.

Inochi jumped out of the nearby cherry blossom tree where he and Tamashii had taken shelter from the harpy and shot laser beams from the diamond heart of his lyre at the monster. The harpy squawked in pain, and she began to charge frantically at him. She used her talons to snatch his instrument out of his hands and threw it into the street that ran in front of the Student Center.

Realizing that he was now powerless without his weapon and that his kung fu skills were no match for the harpy, Inochi cursed angrily, "Fuck!"

He narrowed his eyes at the monster and blindly rammed himself into her hard chest with his right shoulder. Pain shot through his arm, and he pulled back with a yelp. "Ow!" he cried. "That hurts!"

Faintly smirking, the harpy nursed the dent with her right wing and let out an ear-piercing screech. She gripped Inochi by the shoulders with her talons and threw him against Medetai and Shi as they stood up to attack her together.

From the other branch of the cherry blossom tree, Tamashii watched the harpy paralyze the rest of her team with the wavelengths of her screeching. "Come on, you guys!" she whispered. "Get up!"

Shi raised his head from the ground and cried in agony from the pounding of his eardrums. "Where's Tamashii?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Right here," replied Tamashii as she summoned her bow of gold into her hands.

She placed its matching arrow into the notch and quietly took aim at the harpy's back. The harpy stopped her screeching as a flash of light caught her eye, and she hardened herself when she heard Tamashii cry out, "Eternal Damnation!"

The arrow struck the harpy, but to Tamashii's horror, the monster did not dissolve nor did she explode like the other demons in the past. Tamashii watched in shock as the harpy turned her head and snatched the arrow with her mouth like a worm in the soil. The shaft broke in half with a loud crunch and fell at the mighty talons that were itching to rip Tamashii into shreds.

"My arrow!" gasped Tamashii.

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" squeaked Iinaka.

The harpy squawked as she turned a vengeful eye to Tamashii and began to fly toward her with her talons stretched out. Tamashii could feel every bone and joint freeze on her as fear took full control over her body, but her mind screamed for her to get away. _Why are you standing around for? Move, Tamashii! Move!_ she told herself.

She continued to watch the harpy close in on her for the kill, and despite of her friends crying out her name on the ground, she remained still in the cherry blossom tree and closed her eyes. As a claw came down to strike her, a sudden hydrodynamic force of great power pressed the harpy against the wall of the Student Center, drenching the creature from head to talon and greatly restricting her flying ability.

The harpy screeched through her damp, ruffled feathers with a fierce look in her eyes, silently demanding for the culprit who got her wet to step forward and take accountability. She was greeted instead with a storm of sharp rose petals that were too fast for her to shield her beautiful face from their razor edges. Even her hard coat of feathers was no match for the petals as they left behind dents and scratches all over her body.

A lone rose petal struck the harpy in the back where Tamashii's arrow had previously pierced her, and she looked over to find two silhouettes standing in the shadows of another cherry blossom tree. Tamashii squinted her eyes to make out the mysterious duo, and she let out a cry of surprise the moment she realized what she had discovered.

It was the same couple that had been at the Pillar Garden prior to the attack, and the female figure was holding a small box of gold in her hands. Her male partner, who was standing off to the right, had extended out his right palm to show the harpy that he was the one who attacked her last.

"Are they the new Guardians?" asked Medetai.

Neither figure bothered to answer her question, and the woman opened the box to reveal five precious stones—a shard of pink quartz, an amethyst, a ruby, a black onyx, and a white onyx—that began to resonate with the respective cross brooches of their true owners.

"What's going on? What is she doing to us?" demanded Inochi as he looked down at the glowing heart crystal of his brooch.

The stones continued to glow until five energy balls enveloped them and then disappeared in a blink of an eye. The intense light that was radiating from each of the five brooches had also dimmed but left behind a magical transformation in its wake. The Angelic Guardians looked down and discovered that their brooches had gone from a Latin cross to a Catholic cross with three matching gems inside each rounded point. Behind the new brooches were three golden pairs of angel wings that resembled those of the seraphs that fought with the archangels in Heaven—a pair pointing up, a pair pointing down, and a pair running along the arms of the cross.

The woman then flicked her right wrist and magically lifted the other four Angelic Guardians' paralysis. She briefly turned to her companion and began to walk away from the battle, but his hand shot out and stopped her in her tracks, silently commanding her to stay a while longer and see how the fight will play out. His only reply was a nod of her head.

Medetai was the first of the four Guardians to rise to her feet and relish the new power that was flowing in her blood. "It feels so good to be back in action!" she sighed.

The harpy squawked in confusion, and when she saw a glimpse of determination shining brightly in Medetai's brown eyes, she began to retreat to safety. Medetai, however, refused to let her escape without a fight and pointed her right index finger at her target. "Twinkle Star Beam!" she cried.

A line of gold stars spewed from her fingertip and crashed into the harpy's back, causing the creature to lose her footing and stumble across the ground.

Iinaka was next as she placed two fingers against her lips and formed a fireball in the shape of a heart. "Love Fire!" she exclaimed before she blew the blazing heart at the harpy.

Flames of intense heat consumed the monster and melted some of her feathers, something that Iinaka's Flame Spike attack was unable to do at the start of the battle. The fire began to leave burns over the harpy and forced her to roll over several times before she became part of the angels' next feast.

Something shiny caught Inochi's attention, and he turned his head to find his beloved lyre lying on the edge of the sidewalk. A low, rumbling sound in the distance grew as semi trailer came roaring down the street, and as it drew closer to the Student Center, the lyre slipped off the cement and into the truck's path.

"No!" cried Inochi.

He rushed to his instrument with great speed, and just as he grabbed the gold frame with his right hand, he heard the driver blare his horn and turned his head toward the bright headlights of the truck.

"Inochi!" screamed Shi.

The truck flew past the remaining Angelic Guardians, and they stood motionless in their spots, unable to stomach what they had witness. Shi forced himself to snap out of his state of shock and slowly approached the sidewalk with a grim feeling bubbling inside of him. As he came to the edge, he noticed there were two crucial things missing: there was no blood splattered across the asphalt, and there was no body lying along the gutter.

"Shi?" called Medetai with a hint of worry in her voice.

The Angel of Death silenced her with his right hand, and he lifted his gaze to the curled up ball of white in the middle of the meridian. The ball unrolled itself as it lifted its brown head and let out a heavy sigh of relief. "That was close," said Inochi.

"Inochi!" hollered Shi. He darted into the street to give his best friend a bear hug, but he suddenly changed tactics and smacked Inochi upside the head with his right hand. "Don't you ever do that again!" he scolded. "Do you know how much of a heart attack you nearly gave us? We all thought you were dead!"

"Oh, ye of little faith," jested Inochi with a lopsided smile.

"Hey, you two, I hate to break up your little reunion, but we've still got a bird to cook!" reminded Tamashii from her tree.

The harpy slowly rose to her feet, and with a loud hiss of pain, she extended out her burnt wings and glowered at the five Angelic Guardians. "Then, let's take care of her once and for all!" said Inochi with a nod. "Melodic Trance Shock!"

Beams of electricity shot from the heart-shaped diamond in the center of Inochi's lyre as he plucked gracefully plucked the fine chords, and he watched the harpy screech a high-pitched wail from the bolts that were rendering her wings useless. More feathers fell all around her, and soon her scarred arms were exposed to the Angelic Guardians.

"My turn now!" growled Shi. He swung his scythe over his head as the silver blade began to glow with pure energy. Slamming the tip against the cement of the meridian, he cried out, "Death Wrath!"

Shockwaves rained down from the sky and struck the harpy like a powerful lightning bolt. The creature fell on her bottom with a heavy thud, not knowing that she was now in the path of Tamashii's incoming attack.

Hoping that she could finish off the harpy with another attempt of her Eternal Damnation attack, Tamashii summoned her bow and arrow into her hands, but the bow disappeared just as she was sliding the arrow into its notch and transformed into a crossbow of gold and platinum in the shape of her new brooch. "Amazing!" she breathed.

"Shoot, Tamashii!" shouted Medetai.

Tamashii closed her left eye as she pulled back the fine gold wire and directed the sharp tip of her arrow at the harpy. _Steady, Tamashii,_ she commanded herself.

The harpy caught a glimpse of light coming from the tree where Tamashii was hidden behind the pink petals, but instead of going after her target, she began to stumble awkwardly toward the other side of the lawn. Shi noticed that the creature was trying to escape, and he used his scythe to trip her and loose her balance. "Now, Tamashii!" he barked.

"You got it," affirmed Tamashii. Taking a deep breath, she released the wire and cried, "Fateful Sealing!"

The arrow struck the harpy in the chest, and she instantly exploded in a cloud of feathers and dust. Her final shrill cry of agony filled the starry sky over the campus, and her remains blew away with the gentle wind that had been released by Shinmei from his throne in Heaven.

"Are you okay?" asked Shi as he helped Tamashii down the tree.

"I'll be fine," replied Tamashii. "I don't get it. Why, out of all the demons in Hell, did a harpy attack us? There's no correlation between them and Myoujou! A harpy doesn't even exist!"

"But how would you explain that Minotaur we faced last spring?" reminded Medetai.

"The Minotaur was the chosen guardian over the seventh ring of Hell upon Myoujou's request," explained Shi. "Rarely ever do mythological creatures join forces with the Dark Demon, but after being to Hell many times in my existence, I can honestly say that I've never encountered a harpy in any of the nine rings or in Pandemonium."

"Weird," murmured Iinaka. "I wonder what it could mean."

"What I'd like to know is why these guys decide to wait until the last minute to save us from becoming dinner," sneered Inochi as he jerked his thumb at the two mysterious figures in the distance. "I'm sure they might know why Myoujou let that bird loose on us."

"Now, don't you start accusing them over nothing!" snapped Iinaka, poking her finger into his chest. "Geiburieru did say these new enemies were going to be stronger than the demons we've encountered in the past! You ought to be grateful that they helped us out by giving us these new powers!"

"Yeah, but there's something about them that I don't like," said Inochi suspiciously. "I just find it odd that they showed up right when the harpy was close to strike Tamashii to death."

"Don't tell me you're still jealous that they got this 'special mission' and we didn't," sighed Medetai in exasperation.

"Whatever this 'special mission' entails, they seem rather serious about it," said Shi as he observed the figures approaching the brick wall of the Student Center.

The woman pressed her right hand against the cool surface, and the building was suddenly basked in a blue aura as she tried to summon an object out from behind the wall. She concentrated on her task through her telekinesis, but she soon lowered her hand and let out a great sigh of disappointment. "It's not here," she muttered.

The aura around the Student Center disappeared, and the five Angelic Guardians started to wonder what the woman was searching for. "What was that all about?" murmured Tamashii.

The woman looked at her male partner and added, "The crystal is missing."

"But it has to be here!" insisted the man. "This building is a crucial part of our mission!"

_Crystal? Crucial part? What does the Student Center have anything to do with their arrival? And why are they looking for a crystal?_ pondered Tamashii.

"It's somewhere inside that wall! I just know it!" continued the man. "We've got to keep searching! We can't let Myoujou win!"

"Don't bother wasting your energy, Guardians!"

Seven faces turned their heads to the east where they found a slender figure hiding beneath a brown cloak. Hovering over her sea green hand was a red crystal that had been extracted from the Student Center during the fight against the harpy.

"You!" hissed the man. "Give us that crystal right now!"

The figure let out a cackle of triumph and smirked from inside her hood. "Try and stop me, Guardian," she taunted, "but if you do, you might suffer the consequences."

"Who do you think you are taking what doesn't belong to you? Hand over that crystal this instant, you thief!" demanded Tamashii.

"Hmph!" harrumphed the figure as she reached for her hood with her free hand. "If there is anything I hate besides a blade, it's dealing with impertinent brats like you! Someone needs to teach you how to hold your tongue, little girl, and I'll be glad to instruct your first and only lesson!"

Before she could reveal her identity to Tamashii, a storm of rose petals attacked her and forced her to retreat in a blink of an eye. Medetai looked back at the duo just as they were beginning to leave. "So, you must be the two Angelic Guardians from Tokyo, no?" she inquired.

"Why should it matter to you?" retorted the woman coldly.

"Because we want to know why you came from quite a distance just to collect crystals!" replied Tamashii. "If that's all you're here to do, please let us help you so we can return you to your home as soon as possible!"

"We didn't come here to join your little party, nor do we intend to extend the invitation to include you in our search!" spat the man. "After seeing how you failed to destroy the harpy the first time around, why should we entrust you with anything?"

"Then, why did you give us these new brooches if you think we're that untrustworthy?" growled Iinaka.

"We didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We were given strict orders to boost your powers with those of the seraphs in order for you to fight against these new enemies."

"And you can thank us by keeping your nose out of our business from now on," added the woman.

Iinaka felt her control slip, and she started to throw herself onto the woman until Shi and Inochi step forward to hold her back. "Why you ungrateful little—" she screamed.

"That's enough, Iinaka!" snapped Shi. Lifting his head to the duo, he added, "If they don't want our help, then so be it! I'd rather cut off my right hand before I lend it out to another!"

"You were always so judgmental in the past, Shi. It's a pity you haven't learned your lesson by now," remarked the man.

"And you haven't learned yours either! If you are who I think you are, why don't you show yourselves to us, you coward!"

"Very well."

Tamashii felt her heart race with fear, but her eyes never left the man as he stepped into the path of the outdoor porch lights. He stood as tall as Inochi and was dressed in a forest green male Guardian attire, which matched the cloak that he had worn when he came to her in the dream world. His long, dark brown hair was pulled back to a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and his green eyes were as dark and alluring as the emeralds on his jumper and in the gold utility belt that was secured tightly around his slender waist.

While Tamashii had her gaze fixed on the man, Iinaka found herself focusing intensely on his female companion. The woman had dirty blonde hair that fell several inches past her shoulders, and she donned a blue female Guardian outfit made out of sapphires and the finest silk the angels in Heaven could produce. Like Tamashii and Inochi, she, too, wore a matching mask to hide the anger that was burning in her blue eyes.

_Why does she look so familiar to me?_ asked Iinaka to herself. _It's like I should know her, but from where?_

The green _senshi_ locked his eyes with Shi's, and the two Angelic Guardians silently began to throw daggers at each other through fierce glares and menacing growls. "Shi," he greeted icily.

"On'ai," hissed Shi in return. "How nice of you and Waraku to show your faces on my turf. Now, get the hell out of this town and don't ever let me see you on campus again!"

"I'm afraid that won't happen," said On'ai. "Shinmei assigned us here to complete a special mission concerning the prophecies, and we refuse to leave Oukan until that mission is finished."

"But why won't you let us help you?" demanded Tamashii. "We're all Angelic Guardians! What makes you two different from the rest of us if we're really the same?"

"We are _not_ the same, Tamashii," argued Waraku. "You don't have what it takes to carry out our assignment, nor are we going to let you and the others join us. On'ai and I are equipped with powers and abilities that are necessary to make this mission a success. It'd be too risky if we allowed you to help us, and we can't afford to put five other lives on the line."

"And, yet, you would put yours?" asked Inochi.

"If it means saving the world from destruction, yes."

"And if we allow you to join us in completing this mission, the chances of everyone losing their lives will greatly increase," continued On'ai. "Waraku and I would rather die knowing that there is still some hope for the world as long as the five of you remain alive."

Taking a quick glance at Shi, he added, "And since you've got the Grim Reaper on your side, I'm sure you'll have no problem with that."

"But, On'ai, we don't want you to risk your lives just to protect us!" said Tamashii as she started to approach him. "Let us—"

"Hurricane Blast!"

Her plea was drowned beneath a sudden blast of water from the palm of Waraku's right hand as the blue _senshi_ attacked the quintet to stop them from overturning her decision. "Stay out of our way if you know what's best for you," she said evenly.

Without sparing another look at the five Angelic Guardians, On'ai and Waraku started to walk toward the direction they had come from and disappeared into the darkness. Tamashii took hold of the wet clump of hair against her face and wrung the excessive water out of her curls. "What's gotten into them?" she asked. "All I did was asking them to let us help!"

"That's just it—they don't _want_ our help," snorted Inochi as he shook his hair dry. "And I'm personally fine with that."

"But we're—"

"All Angelic Guardians? We know!" snapped Shi. "But teamwork is a two-way street. A team cannot work together if one party is willing and the other isn't. We offered them a hand, and they turned us away. So, let it go and move on, Tamashii."

"But—" began Tamashii.

"I said move on! It's over, okay? If they want to do their silly little mission without us, let them! Their deaths won't be any of my concern!"

Tamashii turned to Medetai and Iinaka for support, but the two Angelic Guardians shook their heads without saying another word to their leader. She sighed in defeat and lowered her head as she felt a great burden fall onto her shoulders. "But why?" she whispered.

"They bit the hand that feed them, and I have no use for that," answered Shi coldly. "I'm not gonna be blinded by their ignorance. It'll be their fault that they didn't take up our offer when they had the chance. If they come crawling and crying to us, don't expect me to give into their groveling. Let them suffer their doom."

Tamashii gasped at Shi's bold statement, feeling both surprised and appalled by his final decision. "You wouldn't!" she cried.

"I would. Even though they're one of us, they don't deserve to be a part of my team."


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

A Team Divided – To Unite or Not to Unite!

Geiburieru sat at the small table in his office the following afternoon as he listened carefully to Rizu's report concerning her encounter with On'ai and Waraku. When she had finished her story, he placed his cup of mint tea on its matching saucer and lowered his gaze. He pursed his lips together, his brain processing the information that was given to him, and the wall clock ticked loudly as seconds of silence lingered passed between the archangel and the student.

Finally, he spoke but with a voice that was laced with resignation. "I was afraid they would turn you down," he said.

"But why?" asked Rizu.

"Because they have devoted themselves entirely to their mission, and they expect to carry it out according to their agenda," explained Geiburieru, placing the china saucer on the table. "On'ai and Waraku see the bigger picture from a different angle than how you and the others perceive it. They don't feel the need to go out and destroy demons head-on just to achieve a goal. They prefer to work in the shadows and stop Myoujou through strategy and wit.

"The only reason why I believe they wouldn't let you be a part of their search is because they like to get the job over and done with. They don't want distractions, and I hate to even think of you as a distraction. But I fear that's exactly how they saw you last night. If not a distraction, perhaps a liability to their mission."

"A liability?" cried Rizu. "We're far from being a liability!"

"Maybe not to them," said Geiburieru.

"Look, it wasn't our fault we couldn't defeat the harpy in time! That bird was just too strong for us!"

"I know it was, but if you said that to On'ai and Waraku, they would have thought of you as being weak."

"They already do," muttered Rizu.

"But if it weren't for them," continued Geiburieru, "you would have most likely been killed. Just be thankful they showed up while they still had the chance."

"Yeah. I wish there was a way we could all work together. I don't like to see us as two groups just because we have different opinions."

Geiburieru arched a golden eyebrow and replied, "Why do you think there are so many branches in the _kurisuchan_ tree? Your little dilemma is nothing more than a mere reflection of what happened to the church."

"How so?"

"Each denomination has a different set of beliefs and interpretation of the _seisho_. While the tree itself has the same roots and trunk, the branches differ from limb to limb. Practices inside and outside the church have been argued for centuries because people couldn't agree on the same thing. Though, I do blame the church itself for encouraging such friction between the branches."

"Why? You're an angel! You can't be blaming the church for stuff!"

"I might be an angel, but it was the church that told these groups to go and make a branch of their own if they didn't like what was being said and done."

"And Shinmei encouraged us to go our own ways, no?"

"Shinmei would never want his children to fight each other. No, my brothers, sisters, and I think that it was Myoujou that separated the Twelve into smaller groups sometime before Noa built the ark. His lies got the better of your first reincarnations and drove the team apart."

"He lied to us?" asked Rizu in disbelief.

"How else would you explain the great fallout?" snorted Geiburieru into his teacup. "We're pretty sure that Myoujou was behind it by making up stories and false accusation among the circle. If it wasn't for him, I'm sure the seven of you—plus Seijitsu—would be working together right now."

"But here's what I don't understand: Shi and On'ai knew each other, but this was the first time we've met On'ai and Waraku. How was that possible?"

"It's most likely that they either retained memories of their past lives once their Seed Crystals were activated, or they can only remember said past lives as long as they're in their Angelic Guardians forms. Most of your teammates already have a notion of their history, even though certain details may seem fuzzy to them."

"And there's me without a single memory!" sighed Rizu.

"No, Rizu, you had memories when you were younger," argued Geiburieru gently. "They were vague but still memories. You just—"

"I know! I just gave them up when I chose to be a normal girl," grumbled Rizu. "I'm starting to wish that I didn't. I mean ever since I became Tamashii, my entire life has been far from normal! I've got prophecies to fulfill, demons to destroy, and now I'm encountering mythical creatures!"

"Like the harpy last night?" inquired Geiburieru.

He walked over to his desk to pick up his copy of the Sunday morning newspaper and dropped it onto the table beneath Rizu's nose. "I'm sure you've got a good explanation of what happened," he added.

Rizu lifted the front page and gasped at a colored image of the quintet battling the harpy outside the Student Center. Above it was the headline in bold that was printed across the paper: "OU'S NEW SUPERHEROES?"

She looked up at Geiburieru with a shocked expression on her face and exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding me! How did we get caught?"

"Well, you did go to a party with most of your classmates," began Geiburieru, "and I can bet they were probably curious as to how a harpy could ruin their night when it doesn't exist. After all, they were the first ones to see it before you showed up. I'm rather amazed that you've been able to keep your cover under wraps for so long, despite of your close calls in the past."

"You heard about them?"

"Heard? I _saw_ your interrogation with the police! You were extremely lucky they believed your story! Had I not opened their eyes when they reviewed that videotape the night Beronika and those other dancers were attacked, things could have taken a turn for the worst!"

"I'm sorry," apologized Rizu, "but it wasn't—"

"I know!" interrupted Geiburieru as he lifted his hand to silence her. "I'm fully aware that it wasn't your fault, Rizu, and I intend to have a word with Jeison about taking battles outside of a social setting. He should have known better."

"He was only trying to keep the Student Center from collapsing on us," argued Rizu. "I really can't blame him after receiving our new powers."

"Speaking of which, are you still getting adjusted to them?"

"I think we've adjusted fine. The others seem to like them."

"They certainly have more power and magic than your old attacks," remarked Geiburieru. "In the heavenly hierarchy, the seraphs are the highest ranked group of angels. Archangels like myself stand above the lesser angels—those who have passed away on earth and entered the kingdom—but we're no match to the seraphs. They're far superior and hold authority over all of Shinmei's army. However, my brothers and my twin sister have been the only angels to work with the seraphs until now."

"What do you mean until now?" asked Rizu.

"Why else would the seraphs give away some of their magic without a reason?" chuckled Geiburieru. "Because you and the others are the Chosen Ones, they, too, have been asked to assist you in next Holy War. This also means the duty to prepare you for your final battle against Myoujou."

"But aren't we considered to be inferior to you?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because we're half-breeds and we're not as authoritative as you and the seraphs," replied Rizu.

"Do you think that your inferiority and your angelic blood have anything to do with this war?" challenged Geiburieru. "Rizu, the seraphs might not be as forgiving as I am, but they also want to preserve the kingdom and make sure the prophecies are fulfilled. They are more than willing to help you despite of your ranking because they know that only you and the others have the capability to silence the Dark Demon's roar when we go fight his army."

Rizu pursed her lips together as she pondered on Geiburieru's words. Then, looking at him with a curious gleam in her eyes, she asked, "Do archangels and seraphs get along?"

Geiburieru laughed and answered, "We tolerate each other at times, but when duty calls, we lay our differences aside and focus what needs to be done as a team."

"I see. So if you can do that, why can't we?"

The archangel lowered his teacup from his lips and sighed heavily. "I don't know, Rizu," he said. "I really don't know what the answer is, but I pray that the others will stop acting like children and grow up."

"Yeah."

Seconds passed as the wall clock continued ticking amid the silence of the room, and Rizu looked up from her lap to the archangel sitting across from her, who was still sipping quietly on his tea. "What do I need to do this time?" she asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" returned Geiburieru.

"Usually after a new demon encounter, you've got some kind of prophecy for me to fulfill."

"Perhaps I do, and perhaps I do not."

"Geiburieru—"

"Alright, alright. Since you're weaseling the truth out of me, I suppose I can tell you," grumbled Geiburieru as he laid down his teacup on the tabletop. "Have you ever heard of the Lady of the Snakes?"

"Not in my lifetime," answered Rizu. "Who is she?"

"A creature far greater than any demon you've ever encountered," said Geiburieru, "and I'm afraid Myoujou has teamed up with her to unleash chaos and destruction into the world."

"How?"

"By summoning the Gates of Pandemonium. You are aware that both Heaven and Hell have gates that contain great power and that Gates of Heaven will bring forth peace and order should they ever be opened beneath the skies. The Gates of Pandemonium are quite the opposite, and if they're opened on earth, the world might come to an end sooner than we anticipated."

"And you think that the Lady of the Snakes will do just that, no?" inquired Rizu.

"I don't think; I _know_. She will be given authority to call upon the Gates of Pandemonium once her mission is complete. You and the others must stop this from happening, but it won't be an easy task."

"What makes you say that?"

Geiburieru took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair, propping his elbows onto his lap. "Because you're gonna need On'ai and Waraku to defeat her," he replied.

Lowering her eyes, Rizu felt her heart sink to her stomach and her confidence crumbling into nothing. "I was afraid you were gonna say that," she muttered.

"I had to," said Geiburieru. "She's quite a formidable opponent, to say in the least. She's stronger than Kasushiusu, Paipa, Deiraira, and Kureopatora put together."

"And you believe that she can be defeated as long as On'ai and Waraku are on our side?"

"The prophecy says that two groups from the Twelve will come together to stop the Lady of the Snakes from opening the Gates of Pandemonium," explained Geiburieru. "Without On'ai and Waraku, you don't stand a chance against her."

"You try telling that to Jeison," snorted Rizu.

"Jeison will learn the hard way soon enough," assured Geiburieru, "but he's not the one who needs to know this prophecy. You're the leader of the group as well as the representative to Shinmei's court. How would it look on Tamashii's record if she chose to ignore the prophecy and sided with the Angel of Death's opinion concerning two Angelic Guardians who rubbed him the wrong way?"

"Not good."

"Then, I highly suggest you take heed of the prophecy's warning and do what's right instead of what Jeison thinks is right. Mankind's fate rests in your hands, Rizu, and Shinmei can't afford to lose his greatest creation all because twelve of his best _senshi_ refused to work together. I just pray that you set a good example to the group before it's too late."

"Yes, sir," said Rizu.

Wordlessly, she rose to her feet and started to walk toward the door when she heard Geiburieru remark, "You seem to have been worrisome lately, more so than usual."

"I've got a lot on my mind," replied Rizu.

"Well, tomorrow is the first day of school, and from what I've gathered, you've got quite a schedule this semester. All advanced English courses, no?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to get as many classes in as I can this year to finish my degree. But it's not just school that I'm worried about. The prophecy, the team, Robu… everything. I shouldn't have come by to see you."

"Why?"

"I'm not feeling any better than when I stepped into this room. I'm only worse."

Geiburieru frowned as he moved to his desk and sat down in his leather computer chair. "Then, perhaps you need to find something to keep your mind off of these things," he suggested. "You're gonna worry yourself sick one of these days. Just you wait, Rizu."

"We'll just see about that."

Watching the door slam shut behind his pupil, the archangel smiled to himself as he took one last sip of his tea and hummed the chorus line of a popular reggae song he once learned from On'ai. "'Cause ev'ry little thing is gonna be all right," he finished quietly.

The first week of school flew by fast for most students, but for Rizu, it was just a sample of the hell that she would soon bear from her classes. By the following Friday afternoon, she stumbled into her room with a heavy messenger bag that was weighing her down. She dropped the offended object along her dresser and tumbled face first against her elevated bed. "I hate being an upperclassman!" she whined into her hot pink sheets.

From her computer desk on the other side of the room, Keitorin arched her right eyebrow and asked, "What happened? Did your professors bury you with mountains of homework?"

"You have no idea," grumbled Rizu, lifting up her head for a moment to breathe. "The homework is just too much, everything is due all at the same time, and I can barely understand a single word some of my professors are saying! Whoever told me that taking advanced English classes was easy didn't know what the hell he was talking about!"

"Well, maybe if you took your education seriously, you wouldn't be such a mess right now!" retorted Keitorin. "Come on, Rizu, this is English we're talking about, the king of all world languages! Did you really expect your professors to go easy on you like the ones you had as a freshman?"

"No, not really."

"Then, it's your own damn fault you didn't prepare yourself better for these classes!"

Rizu grimaced to herself. "You sound just like Mama," she said.

"I'm sorry I was born with a bit of common sense!" snapped Keitorin. "University wasn't designed to be easy! Just imagine how horrible the world would be if everybody graduated and learned nothing to survive! You wouldn't have the doctors who made you feel better when you were sick or hurt; you wouldn't have the lawyers who knew how to win a case for you, and you sure as hell wouldn't have the teachers who taught you everything you needed to know in life!

"You can't just go through school and expect the work force to bow down at your every command! It doesn't work that way! You need to learn how study, Rizu; there's no way around that! I apologize if I just burst your little university dream bubble, but you can't keep running away from reality because sooner or later, reality is gonna bite you hard in the ass when you're least expecting it."

Letting out a sigh of resignation, Rizu sulked to her desk, dragging her messenger bag behind her, and grumbled under her breath, "I guess you're right."

She flopped into her chair and took out her English Literature textbook to begin her homework assignment for the weekend, but as she was reaching into her bag, she noticed that her roommate was in the middle of an online fantasy game. She glanced up at Keitorin's alarm clock on her shelf for a brief second and then turned her gaze back at her. _Why that little hypocrite!_ she fumed to herself. _She gets on me about not being serious with my studies, and she's over there playing video games a little bit after two o'clock! There's no way she can be done with her stuff!_

Just as Keitorin began to type a message to her online team, she stilled her fingers over the keyboard and quickly looked over her shoulder. She felt a pair of eyes staring at her from behind, and she was certain those eyes belonged to Rizu after catching a glimpse of her roommate turning around in her chair.

Seconds passed, and the room fell silent despite of the muffled sound of students walking to and from their rooms on the other side of the door. When the commotion had finally settled, Rizu leaned back against the worn-out padding of her chair and asked, "So, what are you doing this weekend?"

"Not a whole lot. Some homework here and there before Sunday," answered Keitorin.

"You mean you're not going anywhere?"

"No."

"Not even home?"

"Not even home," repeated Keitorin. "I don't have my license or a car, and I hate to spend my money on constant trips just to see my family every month."

Rizu began to fret, and she tried her best not to show it. "But don't you have friends to hang out with?" she asked.

"I have several friends in the Fencing Club, but that's about it," replied Keitorin.

"Well, there you go!"

"But we've all got busy lives outside of the club," continued Keitorin sadly. "And besides, most of them don't attend university anymore. They're just here to keep the newbies from hurting themselves. The school can't operate organizations like the Fencing Club and the Swordfighting Club without proper supervision. The officers in my club might be older, but they have years of experience and training under their belts."

"I see," said Rizu as her eyes fell on the foreign text of her book.

"You seem quite determined to get me out of the room for the weekend," drawled Keitorin. "Any particular reason as to why you wanted me to leave?"

Rizu's face flushed with embarrassment, and she sank deeper into her chair. "Not really," she muttered.

"I know you're lying, Rizu. Just tell me the truth, and we'll drop this whole conversation."

Rizu took a deep breath and said rapidly, "Micchi told me that you were known to stay inside the room a lot, and you drove your old roommates away because of it."

Silence lingered between the two young women, and Rizu had started to wonder if she had hurt her roommate's feelings. She did not mean to for all intents and purposes, and, if she was honest with herself, Keitorin did demand the truth. Still, Keitorin's eerie silence bothered her, and she mentally braced herself when she heard a threatening growl from the back of Keitorin's throat.

Finally, Keitorin spoke up and began in a low, menacing voice, "Micchi had no right to tell you what happened to me last year! That's a breach of confidentiality between hall director and resident! He should know that!"

_Way to go, _baka!_ Now, you've done it!_ scolded Rizu to herself.

"I didn't want to tell you this until the time was right, but since Micchi stepped out of bounds just to warn you, I guess I have no choice," spat Keitorin. "I didn't drive my roommates away from me; they did it themselves. It was all because I wouldn't leave just so they could have a romp.

"My first roommate was single at the time we were assigned to this room, so we never had to make special arrangements concerning boyfriends. But that all changed somewhere down the line in the semester. She met a boy and brought him here for a weekend, and they expected me to give them some privacy until he had to leave. Because I had no other place to go, I stood my ground and stayed where I belonged.

"We kept this going for almost a month until she begged Micchi to put her in another dorm and away from me, and after our fall midterms, I was without a roommate until I came back from my holiday vacation. Micchi assigned a new girl to live with me, but it ended the same way. She had a boyfriend, they wanted to use the room to have sex, and I wouldn't let them. So, she left."

"If sex was the main reason why you chased your roommates away from you, then why didn't Micchi just say it?" asked Rizu.

"Because it wouldn't look good on the hall director if he was open about his residents' sex life. Then again, giving out confidential information about his residents wouldn't look good on him either," snorted Keitorin. "What Micchi did was wrong, and it could cost him his job if he was caught."

"You're not gonna rat him out, are you?"

"No, I can't do that. I don't have the heart to turn him in with Housing for his actions. He's done so much for me this past year. If anything, I won't forgive him for what he's done behind my back."

Rizu had opened her mouth to defend Micchi when a loud knock at the door startled her from the conversation. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me, Deibiddo! I need to ask you something!"

"Coming!"

Rising to her feet, she crossed the room and turned the silver handle to greet her guest. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"The gang wants to know if you're interesting in going out to the pizzeria tonight," answered Deibiddo. "I know it's something different compared to Sukoti's, but I don't think constant trips to the brewhouse are gonna happen this year. I mean my wallet is starting to become thin after our outing last week!"

"And you think pizza is any cheaper?"

"I don't spend nearly ten yen on a regular hamburger, two sides, and a cola at a fast-food restaurant! And that's not counting my wine!"

"_Touché,_" sighed Rizu. "Well, I suppose we can do pizza for dinner."

"Excellent! I'll tell Jeison and the others right away so we can find a table for all of us before the dinner rush!" exclaimed Deibiddo. Just as he began to return to his room in the adjoining wing, he stopped in his tracks and asked, "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, not really," said Rizu. "I was just in the middle of a serious conversation with Keitorin."

"The new roommate?"

"Yeah."

Deibiddo looked over Rizu's head and waved at Keitorin, but she looked away and pretended to be busy with her computer game, though her faint blush did not go unnoticed from his eye. "I think I might have an admirer," he chuckled softly to Rizu.

"Can't say that I blame her," said Rizu. "You are one dashing gentleman."

"Whatever. I'll meet you downstairs in the lobby in thirty minutes."

"The usual place?"

"Where else?"

"See ya later, Deibi," teased Rizu.

As she shut the door behind her with a smirk on her lips, she heard him holler back, "Stop calling me that!"

Keitorin glanced at her from the corner of her eye, but when she caught Rizu staring back at her, she shifted her attention to the computer screen and cleared her throat to break the awkward silence that was in the room. "So, that's Deibiddo?" she asked.

"The one and only Deibiddo Fushimawashino," replied Rizu as she walked over to her armoire to change out of her school uniform.

"I can't believe he shrugged you off like that."

"What do you mean?"

"That comment you made to him. Most guys would have been flattered."

"Deibiddo isn't like most guys," sighed Rizu. Reaching up to undo the buttons on her blouse, she continued, "I mean we went on a few dates last spring, but it obviously didn't turn out to be anything spectacular. The only good thing that came out of our relationship in the end was a very strong bond. He's just one of my closest friends on campus."

"So, he's single?"

"He probably will be for the rest of his life," snorted Rizu. "He's extremely picky about his women, and so far, none of them have met his expectations, myself included."

"Which are?"

"Well, I only know one for sure: she must love classical music as much as he does. And I mean she has to love it, live it, breathe it, et cetera. And if she can dream about writing a song that could turn Beethoven and all those great composers in their graves, she's just won his heart."

"That hardcore, huh?"

"To the extreme."

Pulling her favorite _Sērā__ Senshi_ shirt down her body, Rizu added, "I wouldn't hold my breath about asking him out. Like I said, he's pretty picky about his women, and I'm almost sure he wasn't into you. If he was, he would have made it known."

Keitorin gave her a sad nod and shifted her attention back to her game to allow Rizu some privacy as she continued to undress. _Just what I was afraid to hear,_ she thought.

The Village Pizzeria was the best and only pizza parlor near Oukan University, specializing in pizzas of a diverse range from traditional to specialty, from the grated Greek goat cheese to the shredded Italian mozzarella, and from imported Italian sausage to imported American beef. Aside from Sukoti's, The Village Pizzeria was another popular restaurant for students and faculty to enjoy a sit-down meal. Even though it lacked flat-screen plasma televisions and a full bar, the restaurant's owner attracted his customers after investing an arcade room at the back of the building shortly before Rizu's freshman year.

There was always a dinner special every night, which kept the restaurant packed until closing. When Jeison escorted the other four Angelic Guardians into the waiting room, they noticed a neon dry-erase board with the evening's special written in big characters. "'Got a Large Group? Buy One Medium Pizza and Get the Other Free!'" read Beronika aloud. "'Dine in and Carryout.'"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to do a carryout," snorted Megu. "I'm starving, and I want to sit down for once! I've been on my feet all day!"

"Busy day at the office?" asked Rizu.

"'Busy' is an understatement! I hate the first week of class! Nothing but stack after stack of paperwork that needs to be filed for the semester! I don't know about you four, but I could sure use a strong drink with my pizza right now!"

"Maybe after we're done, we'll head over to the martini bar at the coffeehouse," suggested Jeison.

"Um, Jeison, aren't you forgetting something?" asked Beronika as she pointed at Megu. "She's a minor!"

"She won't be come November. And besides, she's had alcohol before!"

Beronika let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose to keep herself from shouting. "I'm afraid to even ask where her age didn't matter," she muttered.

"I think you already know the answer," said Deibiddo dryly.

"If it involves hazing, then, yes, I do," agreed Beronika, silently admonishing Jeison with a stern gleam in her eyes. His only reply was a casual shrug as he dismissed the accusation against his favorite fraternity.

A dark-haired woman, no taller than Beronika, approached them from the counter across the arcade room and greeted them with a smile. "Welcome to the Village Pizzeria. Table for five?" she asked.

"Yes, please," answered Jeison.

"It looks like you've lucked out. I've got a corner booth, if that's fine with you."

"Lead the way."

She escorted them to the empty booth off to the right and next to the front window where they could see fellow classmates walking past them on the other side of the glass. The quintet sat around the plaid-clad marble table, each with a menu in his or her hands, and began to look through their options. "I'll get your drinks ready if you need more time," prompted the waitress.

"Water," replied Beronika, Megu, Jeison, and Deibiddo in unison.

Rizu lowered her menu and added, "Cola, please."

"Very well," said the waitress.

As the woman left the table, Jeison turned to his friends and said, "I've been having a huge craving for supreme pizza lately."

"Then, order it," retorted Beronika.

"I would if our circle wasn't full of picky eaters!"

"I hope you weren't talking about me," hissed Rizu.

"You still prefer just pepperoni, no?" inquired Jeison.

"Yes."

"My point exactly."

"Well, Rizu can get a _chibi_ pepperoni for herself, and the rest of us can have the supreme, even though I was hoping to have anchovies," drawled Megu.

"Anchovies? Who in their right mind would eat anchovies?" exclaimed Deibiddo.

"They're not that bad!"

Deibiddo scrunched his face as the thought of eating diced-up fish on his pizza churned his stomach. "Yuck!" he grimaced.

"But all we really need is a half-and-half pizza for the four of us with supreme on one side and anchovies added on the other," pointed out Beronika. "My figure can't afford more than two slices anyway, and Megu can take home whatever she doesn't finish tonight."

"I suppose," groaned Jeison, setting aside his menu in defeat.

"I take it you were that hungry, huh?" sniggered Deibiddo.

"Hungry enough to have a large pizza all to myself!"

"Pig," snorted Beronika.

"So, Jeison, are you excited about pledging next week?" asked Megu.

"You have no idea!" replied Jeison. "I've been looking forward it ever since you introduced me to your brothers last year! But…"

"But what?"

"I don't know if I'll get accepted."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm too much of a nice guy. I'm not a party animal like you."

"But you've got a great personality, and you're apparently on good terms with the fraternity's president!" said Rizu.

"That's one person out of the whole brotherhood of that particular house," argued Jeison. "It takes every guy to accept you, and I have yet to even sit down and talk with the vice-president!"

"So, do you have another option in case this one doesn't take you in?" asked Deibiddo.

"There were two others that I've thought about joining back before I met Rizu," sighed Jeison, "but I don't get that same connection that I feel with this particular fraternity."

Beronika laid her menu off to the side and said softly, "Jeison, I know you'll get accepted next week by that fraternity. There's no doubt in my mind they'll take you in. The president would be a complete _baka_ if he didn't."

"For someone who doesn't want to date me, you sure have quite a lot of faith in me," teased Jeison.

Everyone at the table laughed as Beronika's face turned red with embarrassment, and she only made them laugh harder as she tried to defend herself. "That's not what I meant!" she cried.

"It's okay, B," giggled Megu. "Rizu acts the same way when it comes to Robu."

"I do not!" huffed Rizu.

"Megu, don't you ever compare me like that again!" said Beronika. Turning to Rizu, she added, "And, yes, you do."

Several minutes later, the waitress returned with their drinks and left again with their orders written down on her tablet. After taking a sip of his water, Deibiddo said to Megu, "I'm surprised you didn't ask Ami to join us."

"Oh, I did, but she said she already had dinner plans," sighed Megu. "It seems like she doesn't want to hang with us anymore."

"Maybe she wants to do stuff on her own without you holding her hand," suggested Rizu.

"I don't hold her hand!" said Megu stiffly. "It just seems so weird that we used to do things together like best friends until now. This isn't like Ami at all!"

"And I'm still puzzled about last weekend when she said she had other things to do besides hanging out with us at the Student Center," added Jeison.

Megu stared blankly at her water as memories from the battle against the harpy flooded her mind. There was something about Waraku that bothered her the moment the new Angelic Guardian revealed herself, but she could not figure out the reason why.

"Hey, Earth to Megu!" called Beronika from across the table.

"Sorry," apologized Megu. "I must have zoned out for a moment."

"Not with that look in your eye, you were. What's up?"

"I was thinking about the battle the other night." Megu lifted her eyes from her cup and asked, "Did you guys find something peculiar about those two Guardians?"

"No!" snorted Deibiddo before he took a sip of his water.

"What do you mean by peculiar?" asked Rizu.

"There was something about Waraku that made me feel like I know her from somewhere," elaborated Megu.

"They certainly don't look familiar to me, and I'm cool with that," said Jeison coldly.

"You're still miffed about them, aren't you?" accused Beronika.

"I just don't like the fact that they came here all the way from Tokyo just to do a mission that we could have easily done ourselves!" growled Jeison.

"But you heard what they said! This mission could cost our lives!"

"I don't care! We are the Angelic Guardians of Oukan University! This is our home, the chosen land! We all came here to protect it!"

"And they can help us protect it too!" said Rizu.

"They don't want to help, remember? They're more concerned about that stupid mission of theirs than saving the school from demons!"

"But—"

"Rizu, my decision is final! I'm not gonna work with them if they're not gonna work with us!" hissed Jeison. "I know the Twelve has to come together in order for the world to start coming to an end, but I could probably think of two other candidates who would be more suitable to join us than the two who claim to be On'ai and Waraku."

"But On'ai and Waraku possess true Seed Crystals!" reminded Deibiddo.

"And I can easily remedy that problem!" retorted Jeison.

"What are you going to do? Kill them?" snorted Beronika.

"Do you have a better solution?"

"Why should there even be one? They seem to have an understanding of the past, and it's very unlikely they won't forget it too! They'll always retain those memories no matter who they choose to be their next reincarnations! Please, Jeison, it's pointless to kill them just so you can manipulate them into your agenda!"

"You're starting to sound a lot like Rizu, you know?" spat Jeison. "Well, I have news for all of you: I won't work with somebody who thinks their way is better than mine. On'ai was the cause of the great separation, and I'm not gonna forgive him for what he destroyed. It's either him or me, so choose wisely."

Beronika had opened her mouth to belittle him for his childish behavior when the waitress returned with their dinner. She sighed to herself, knowing that a full-blown argument in a public setting could raise some unwanted questions from the customers, and dropped a slice of supreme pizza onto her plate without uttering another word.

As her friends started to eat their slices, she turned to Rizu, who was quietly working away on her pizza, and frowned. She felt torn between her former roommate and the Angel of Death, but although she longed to support Rizu's wish for unity, she could ignore On'ai and Waraku's cold words after defeating the harpy. _I'm sorry, Rizu. I wish I could help you, but I don't know what else to do, _she thought.

After collecting everybody's money, Jeison walk to the counter in the back of the restaurant to pay for the pizzas as the remaining four Angelic Guardians slid across the leather seats and hopped out of the corner booth. Just as she was pulling herself up, Rizu spotted Ami in a small booth on the other side with a dark-haired man at her table. "Speaking of the she-demon," she murmured.

"What are you talking?" asked Megu.

"Apparently, Ami made her dinner plans here, but she just didn't want us to tag along."

"Where is she? I don't see her!"

"Over in that booth," replied Rizu, pointing to Ami and the mysterious man. "She doesn't seem to be alone either."

Megu squinted her eyes to get a closer look at the cinnamon blonde woman. "Yeah, that's her," she agreed, "but who is she with?"

"Probably her boyfriend," said Deibiddo.

"It's not him. I've seen pictures of them together, and he doesn't wear a ponytail."

"Then, who is it?" asked Beronika.

"I have no idea," replied Megu.

Rizu glanced at the young man who was sitting across the table from Ami, and she saw a glimpse of dark hair that was pulled back against his nape. Suddenly, something on the coat hooks behind him caught her eye, and she saw a familiar black hoodie with thin lines of red, yellow, and green running down the sleeves. _Shinmei that can't be him,_ she thought as she blanched at the memory of the young man in the food court the weekend before.

Catching her friend's shocked expression, Megu turned to Rizu and asked, "Rizu, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'll be fine," assured Rizu hastily.

A blonde waiter walked over to Ami's table with a cheese pizza in one hand and a salad in the other. Rizu watched the young man gently take the salad bowl from the waiter's hand, and she nearly fainted when she recognized his profile the moment he turned his head.

_It is!_


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

A Puzzle of Sorts – The Crystals and the Gates!

"Okay, Rizu, spill the beans. Who was that guy back there?" asked Megu as the quintet piled into Jeison's dark blue SUV behind the pizzeria.

"What guy?" asked Rizu.

"The guy who was having dinner with Ami! You seem to know him! Why else would you nearly pass out in front of everyone?"

Rizu became embarrassed at the thought of being caught ogling at another guy beside Robu. Then, her face grew redder after she reminded herself that she was ogling at just not any guy but rather a former high school crush. "Well, it's a long story," she squeaked.

"Come on, Rizu, you can tell us!" prodded Beronika from the front passenger seat.

Rizu took a deep breath and replied, "That guy reminds me a lot of Raian Daishizenno."

"Who's that?"

"A boy I liked back in high school. He was a rich kid, and he looked very cute." Pausing for a moment, Rizu blushed again and added, "He still does."

"He still does?" sniggered Jeison as he looked into his rearview mirror to talk to Rizu. "You mean you tell me there's another guy you've fallen for besides Robu?"

Rizu reached over the driver's seat and smacked Jeison upside the head for his teasing. "Shut up!" she huffed. "I still like Robu, and I always will!"

"So, why are you going gaga over this Raian character?" asked Deibiddo. "It seems to me that you've yet to get over him."

"And besides, you've yet to tell Robu about him," piped up Megu.

"I already have, back when we first became friends," said Rizu tiredly. "He wanted to know the number of relationships I've had in my life, but Raian was the only guy I was interested until…"

"Until you met Robu?" finished Beronika.

"Yeah."

"Whatever happened between you and Raian, anyway?"

"Nothing," said Rizu. "Nothing but humiliation. But the more I think about it, the more I start to believe that maybe it was for the best."

"Why?"

"I wasn't exactly his type."

"How so?"

"Have you ever seen me do drugs?" asked Rizu.

Everyone in the car fell silent as Rizu's words fell on their ears. They had no idea that their friend's first interest in the opposite sex would have been a drug addict, and to Jeison, it was a hard pill for him to swallow. "Let me get this straight: you were crushing over a rich kid in high school who had money to buy drugs?"

"I plea the fifth," confessed Rizu.

"What kind?"

"Cannabis."

"Shit, Rizu, don't you know how fucked up cannabis is to the mind?" gasped Megu.

"Yes, I do, Megu!" snapped Rizu.

"And does Robu know about this, or was that one little tidbit you failed to mention?" asked Deibiddo.

"What I was gonna tell him? That I had a thing for a cannabis-smoking doctor's son for three out of my four years in high school?"

"THREE YEARS?" exclaimed her friends.

"Is that a bad thing?" squeaked Rizu as she sank deeper into her seat.

"You were crushing on a guy who was too busy smoking a joint to even notice you for three years, and he didn't have the balls to tell you to move on! What do you think?" retorted Jeison. "Three years is a long time, and if he didn't like you, which I'm under the impression that he didn't, he should have said something! I know I would!"

Beronika took her left hand and smacked Jeison on the other side of his head to add more pain to his aching skull. "Jeison!" she scolded.

"What? What did I do?"

"You're not helping the situation!"

"Leave him alone, B. He's not doing anything wrong," sighed Rizu. "And just for the record, I'm not quite sure if Raian didn't like me. He just never told me one way or another."

"If he didn't say anything to get you off his back, then why didn't you let him go?" asked Megu.

"Because I was holding onto that little sliver of hope that he would ask me out."

"But he didn't, did he?"

"No, he didn't."

"Rizu, can I ask you something?" asked Jeison. "Why do you fall for guys who like to keep you hanging high and dry and then self-destruct when they break your heart?"

"Do you really think of me like that?" hissed Rizu.

"Would you kill me if I told you the truth?"

"It depends."

"Look, I know you have deep feelings for Robu, but do you really want to go through the same pain you went through with Raian, let alone Deibiddo?"

"Hey!" cried Deibiddo.

"Well, you did toy with Rizu's feelings for a while until I said something to you about it," reminded Megu.

"But Robu isn't anything like Raian! He's different!" insisted Rizu.

"Because he was intimate with you and Raian wasn't?"

Rizu winced as she felt Jeison's cold words jab her heart like a katana. She wanted to tell him that he had no right to bring her sex life into the discussion, but she knew that her one and only shared moment with Robu was the one thing that separated him from Raian. "You didn't have to say it like that," she grumbled.

"Rizu, we're only looking out for you," said Beronika gently. "We hate to see your heart get broken."

"In case you've forgotten, it's been broken quite a bit this year."

"That's because Deibiddo and I knew it was wrong to date you," replied Jeison. "As for Robu, he was a _baka_ for he did to you before he found out his girlfriend was a she-demon."

"I don't know why you guys are talking about Robu like he was Rizu's boyfriend or something," said Deibiddo. "They're just friends."

"With benefits," added Megu.

"That was one time!" cried Rizu.

"The point is Robu had the right to date Di if he wanted to. He wasn't completely tied down to Rizu," continued Deibiddo.

"And the only way he would have been was if Rizu asked him out," finished Beronika.

"Exactly, but we all know neither one of them was ever gonna bring up the subject."

"How dare you say such a thing!" spat Rizu. "I would have asked Robu out if I wasn't such a coward!"

"Just like when you wanted to date Jeison?" challenged Deibiddo.

"Guys, can we please stop with the finger-pointing?" begged Beronika.

"I'm just saying!"

"Yeah, but you don't have bring up the past either! I'm sure Rizu doesn't want to relive it!"

"B, we're concerned about her as much as you are, but we don't want to see her make the same mistake over and over again," reasoned Deibiddo. "Raian sounds like he's nothing but trouble, and I don't think it's worth for Rizu to chase him again if all he's gonna do is ignore her because she's not his type. If he didn't give her a chance three years ago, what makes you think he will now?

"And then there's Robu. We've all heard Rizu hundreds of times how much she loves him, but how would Robu feel if he found out that she discarded him all of a sudden for an old flame who wanted nothing to do with her?"

The inside of the SUV was suddenly quiet, for no one dared to answer Deibiddo's question. Even Rizu was too scared to speak up and argue, but she knew he had a point. Robu would never forgive her if she chose to follow Raian Daishizenno—her first unrequited love—after all she had done to save him from eternal damnation, and although he had never truly returned her feelings, he left hints of his interest in her unlike Raian who said nothing at all.

Deibiddo smirked triumphantly to himself and crossed his arms against his chest. Leaning further back into his seat, he said, "That's what I thought."

Geiburieru sat at the circulation desk the following morning as he worked quietly on the library's reserved list on the computer. Many professors had filled out request forms at the start of the semester for e-books and e-articles from other databases to assist their students with their term papers, and Geiburieru and other librarians took turns sorting and filing away the electronic files into their computer system. It was a tedious job, but it was always worth the hassle—no checkouts, no late fees, and no books being misplaced in the wrong section. It was one less headache for them to worry about at the end of the day.

Saturday afternoons were generally peaceful and quiet around the library. Many students chose to use the weekend to sleep, party, and relax with friends from a stressful week of class. It was rare to find study groups in the building between Friday evening and Sunday morning, unless finals were approaching and time was running out for term projects.

Rizu was no exception to the statistics and neither were her friends. They were known to sleep in late on Saturdays and enjoy their weekend until Sunday evening came and homework for that early Monday morning class had yet to be done. The only time they ever came by to visit Geiburieru was if it was something related to their other lives, and although he longed for their company on a slow weekend like that very morning, he respected their wish to get some rest and relaxation. _Let them enjoy this life while they still can, _he chided to himself. _Shinmei knows it could be their last._

Something from the north entrance near the computer lab caught his right eye, and he turned his head to see a young woman with dirty blonde hair and black horn-rimmed glasses passing through the multiple sets of metal detectors in the walkway. He watched her stop in front of the infamous naked goddess statue on the other side of the spiral staircase where she was soon greeted by a young man with a dark ponytail tied behind his neck.

He narrowed his blue eyes as he watched the couple wander off together toward the west wing, but he did not advert his gaze when the young man looked over his left shoulder and flashed a knowing smirk at the archangel before he disappeared in the sea of computers and books.

Geiburieru leaned back into his chair and drummed his fingers against each other in deep thought. _I wonder what brings them here at a time like this,_ he pondered.

He secretly followed the two students to an empty corner where no one could hear them. Hoping that they would not catch him spying on them, he hid behind a metal shelving unit and listened closely to their conversation. "We have to find those crystals," he heard the young man say to his female companion firmly.

"But they could be anywhere on this campus!" said the woman.

"Then, we'll search every inch of this soil until they're found and protected from Myoujou! Once he gets his hands on the five crystals, he'll summon the Gates of Pandemonium and take full control over the world!"

"I still don't see how the crystals have anything to do with the school," snorted the woman.

"Mikaeru told me the crystals were connected to the memorial site in the pillar garden," explained the man. "Each crystal was dedicated to all five of the Oukan Brothers when the pillars were built after their death, but Shinmei hid them while Myoujou was still recovering from his loss in the last war against Tamashii. It was as if he knew Myoujou would go after them once he heard of Tamashii's enrollment here."

"But even the prophecy mentioned something about the Gates of Pandemonium," reminded the woman.

"Yes, it did, and it's our responsibility to make sure the prophecy isn't fulfilled. Once the gates are opened, all hell will break loose."

"And the others?"

"What about them?"

"They seem to be persistent about taking part in our mission, especially Tamashii."

"We can't afford liabilities, Ami. We've already lost one crystal because of them. What if Myoujou gets the next crystal and the one after that? We can't keep saving Tamashii and her friends' asses if it means losing sight of our mission. Myoujou's already one step closer from ruling the entire universe, and I won't let him take another step if I can help it.

"Tamashii will only cause more problems if we join forces, if you recall the encounter with the harpy. Had her friends not taken the battle outside, we wouldn't have been distracted and the crystal would be in our possession. The world doesn't depend on them right now; it depends on _us_. And I'll be damned if I let Tamashii take over the reins of _our_ mission."

Lowering her glasses, Ami Umino shot a cold look at her companion across from her. "I find it funny how you two used to work together in the past, and now you're not even lending her a helping hand," she sneered.

"Consider all that I've done for her before a life debt," said the man icily. "I didn't come here to mend severed ties. I came here to do what I was chosen to do, and if it means distancing myself from Tamashii and her friends, so be it."

"You know you won't be able keep her completely away with that personal assignment of yours."

"The time isn't right to start that quite yet."

"You're gonna break her heart, you know that?"

"I'm aware of that, but the truth always hurts."

The man perked his ears at the sound of footsteps shuffling down the aisle, and he peered above a row of books to find Geiburieru retreating toward the lobby at a fast speed. "What is it?" asked Ami.

He narrowed his green eyes and answered, "I think we might have let the cat slip out of the bag by accident."

"How so?"

"He knows."

Passing the spiral staircase in his haste, Geiburieru returned to his seat at the circulation desk and pulled up a new tab on his browser to search for an article concerning the five missing crystals from the Pillar Garden. He knew the pillars were built with precious stones at the top, but he had no idea that they had been missing until now. It also bothered him to learn that Shinmei had something to do with the crystals' disappearance.

At last, the webpage displayed a list of articles that were relevant to the Pillar Garden, and at the top of the list was a link from the school newspaper that read, "CRYSTALS MISSING FROM PILLARS". Geiburieru glanced at the date of publication and noticed that report was filled sometime in early September 2004, the year Rizu began her senior year of high school.

So_, the crystals have been missing for quite a while,_ he thought. Catching a glimpse of Ami and her companion leaving the library through the north entrance, he added, _Rizu and Megu are not gonna like this one bit._

Contemplating on his icy throne, Myoujou gazed intensely at the red crystal in his hand. He was pleased with Medosa's success in retrieving the object as the Angelic Guardians battled the harpy, and he was starting believe that he might have made the right decision to take up the Gorgon's offer after all. _Perhaps I was wrong about these creatures,_ he thought. _They seem to be more useful than my own demons. Too bad Kasushiusu and Deiraira couldn't train their armies as well as Medosa's._

Just as he had begun to toy with the crystal between his fingers, he startled by a sudden hissing sound, and he shifted his gaze off to the far wall as the sound grew louder. "Myouji, I'm home!" he heard Medosa exclaim gleefully.

_Then again…_

She approached him with open arms but stopped when she saw Myoujou keeping his line of vision far away from her. _Damn that demon,_ she fumed to herself as she tried to mask her frustration. _I can never seem to get him to look at me!_

Feigning a pout, she then asked, "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"Let's get one thing straight, Medosa: I am _nobody's_ Myouji! Never have and never will!" growled Myoujou.

He tossed the crystal into the air and quickly snatched it into his hand like a snake launching itself onto its prey. "And for Hell's sake, do something with your appearance before I take care of it myself," he added. "One might think you're trying to put on an act of mutiny in my presence."

"But I'm not!" insisted Medosa.

"You know as well as I do that your curse goes beyond the mere mortal, and I can't afford a simple slip of the mind at the moment!" snapped Myoujou irritably. "Now, either you wear something that will protect me from becoming an addition to your little statue garden, or I'll restore that key—"

"Now, let's not get too rash!" said Medosa hastily. "I apologize if my beautiful face offends you, but all you had to do was just ask! I would have understood!"

_When Zeusu reclaims the heavens,_ she added to herself.

Summoning her brown cloak, she threw the heavy material over herself and covered her entire head with a matching hood. "Is this better?"she asked.

Myoujou snuck a quick glance from his left eye and drawled, "It'll do."

_Damn!_

"Now, have you found the location of the next crystal?" inquired Myoujou.

"You mean right now?" questioned Medosa.

"As in at this time, as in at this very minute, as in this very moment—yes, I mean right now!" barked Myoujou. Pausing for a brief second, he eyed Medosa carefully and asked, "You do know why I'm persistent about our search, don't you?"

"To summon the Gates of Pandemonium," answered Medosa.

"Not just to _summon_ the Gates, but to _open_ the Gates!" corrected Myoujou as he shifted on this throne to speak to Medosa face-to-face without having to look deep into her hood. "If I could bring them forth on earth and open them in the presence of Shinmei's favorite little angels, there won't be any need for Iesu to return and save mankind. Why? Because there won't be a single soul left for Him to save!

"Man only knows how to survive according to his surroundings, and if his surroundings are full of chaos and destruction, then he won't know a thing about order. Imagine men, women, and children all around the world killing each other in their madness! Imagine the number of souls I could acquire from my brilliant plan! My army would be larger than the angels'!

"Just the slightest gap in the Gates of Pandemonium can change the course of the future! By manipulating man's mind into thinking that the world has gone straight to hell and that Shinmei isn't going to do a single thing about it, he'll do whatever it takes to make things right according to his needs, even if it means taking the life of his neighbor or perhaps his own family! And, now, Medosa, I'll ask you one last time: have you found the location of the next crystal?"

"No," answered Medosa sharply.

"Then, why did you decide to grace me with your presence empty-handed?" snarled Myoujou. "Unless you have news concerning the crystals, I don't ever want to see your face—cursed or not—in my courts again! The sooner we get the crystals, the sooner I can stop the prophet's revelations from being fulfilled! Do you understand me? Because if you dare take one step in this very ring, you might just lose your head after I'm done with you."

Medosa opened her mouth to protest, but her cry was swallowed up in a gasp of surprise as the gold choker around her slender neck began to peel away from her skin and her head wobbled around. She reached into her hood to hold down her skull and cried, "Stop it! Stop it!"

Myoujou lowered his right arm to release his magical hold on her stretched-out choker, and he smirked to himself as the sound of Medosa's yelp filled his ears. "Have I made myself clear?" he asked.

"Yes," muttered Medosa, nursing the sting above her choker. She caught a glimpse of Myoujou arching his right eyebrow expectantly and mumbled under her breath, "Sir."

"Good. Let that be a warning to you. Now get out."

Without saying another word, Medosa disappeared from Lake Cocytus and left Myoujou alone with his thoughts. He rested his chin on his hands and began to ponder silently amidst the blood-curdling screams in the eighth ring above his head. _So, Shinmei wants to play a little game of hide-and-seek with me, no?_ he mused with a devious smile curling on his lips. _Well, then, let the games begin._


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

A Broken Piece of History – The Legend of the Oukan Brothers!

The green leaves of late August slowly turned into the golden colors of mid-September, and the library was full with students and classes on every floor. As the Angelic Guardians arrived at the steps in front of the south entrance one Friday afternoon, Jeison looked up at the study group room on the fourth floor and found a row of students sitting along the tinted windows. "It's getting that time of the semester again," he groaned.

"What time is that?" asked Deibiddo playfully.

"Midterms."

"Don't tell me you've been procrastinating again."

"I don't procrastinate!" huffed Jeison. "I just do my homework whenever I want to do it!"

They entered the library and walked through the metal detectors just as a grammar class was dismissed from the instructional room behind the east elevators to their left. Megu watched in curiosity after spotting one of Geiburieru's colleagues escorting the grammar professor behind the students and then turned her head to the circulation desk where Geiburieru was checking out books for another professor. "Say, Rizu, aren't all the librarians required to give certain classes a lecture on how to use the online system?" she asked.

"Only those who are full-time and not undergraduates," replied Rizu. "Why do you ask?"

"Has Geiburieru said anything about teaching for a day?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"He wouldn't have last year since he was still new to the school," said Beronika, "but since he seems to know what he's doing, I wouldn't be surprised if his name comes up in the lottery this semester."

"Oh, believe me, Beronika, it already has," said Geiburieru from behind, accidentally startling the quintet. "What are you kids up to?"

"Not much," answered Beronika. "We were just wondering if you were scheduled to teach a class this semester."

"Next Tuesday," replied Geiburieru. "In fact, I believe I'll be having Rizu's English Literature class that day."

"You've got to be kidding me!" grimaced Rizu.

"I wish I was," sighed Geiburieru. "I'm not entirely thrilled about it as much as you are."

"Oh, Geiburieru, I'm sorry!" apologized Rizu hastily. "I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable about teaching my class! It's just that I've gone through the same kind of lecture at least once a year, and I really don't need to hear it again! I already know what I need to do!"

"Is that so?" asked Geiburieru, arching his right eyebrow with an expression that told Rizu that he was unconvinced with her competency of the school's online database guide. "Then, tell me which program I need to use to do a term paper over the Pythagoras theorem?"

Rizu stared at him blankly and spluttered, "Well, I… I… I wouldn't know!"

"My point exactly."

"But I never took Mathematics Theory 150!" whined Rizu. "That's unfair of you to ask me such a question!"

"You better stop acting like a know-it-all while you still can, Rizu, or else Geiburieru is gonna make you his guinea pig for his lecture next week," giggled Megu.

"It's a little too late for that," chuckled Geiburieru lightly. "No, Rizu, I don't have a problem teaching your class. It's just that I'm not sure if I'm ready to do a presentation in front of a room full of upper-level students."

"Geiburieru, you've faced many demons in your existence, including Myoujou himself. Surely, you can't be that scared to teach young adults a few pointers or two about the library," teased Jeison.

"Jeison, as much as it pains me to admit this, I'm still getting accustomed to the transition between Heaven and twenty-first century technology," said Geiburieru. "It would have been so much easier for us angels if Shinmei had an e-manual on how to use the Internet. I mean what if I click the wrong link and I end up getting a virus? I'm gonna look stupid!"

"Come on, Geiburieru, lighten up!" said Deibiddo. "Just imagine that you're working one-on-one with a student in the computer lab when you give your demonstration of the database."

"And besides, Rizu's professor is giving you the reins for an entire class period, and you'll be in your own domain! Think of it as your one and only chance to show the students something that you know well!" added Beronika. "Just remember that Rizu and her classmates have gone through a similar lecture or two before. Make it informative but also interactive with the students."

"Do you really think I could get away with it?" asked Geiburieru.

"Absolutely!"

"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Beronika," said Geiburieru wearily. "I'm sorry for making myself look like a coward in front of you kids, but I'm afraid I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"About Myoujou?" asked Rizu.

"You could say that."

"It's about On'ai and Waraku, isn't it?" spat Jeison.

Geiburieru forced himself to keep a cool composure, but the urge to snap at the Angel of Death in front of hundreds of students on the first floor and around the guardrail above him was tempting. Instead, he carefully chose his words and said, "It's more along the lines with their mission than On'ai and Waraku themselves. There's no need to worry as long as you five continue what you need to do to protect this school."

"But Geiburieru—" began Rizu.

"Trust me, Rizu, you don't want to get involved in this mess. I don't think you're quite ready for what On'ai and Waraku have to do."

Jeison let out a snort of satisfaction and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, I'm glad somebody finally is seeing eye-to-eye with me," he said.

"I would hold that tongue of yours if I were you, Jeison," warned Geiburieru. "I'm only agreeing with you for the sake of Rizu's best interests. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to work. You kids have a good weekend, and, Jeison, please start focusing on your studies. Your GPA won't contribute much toward your chapter's average at the end of the semester."

"Yes, sir," muttered Jeison under his breath.

Rizu watched the archangel return to the circulation desk with a concern look in his blue eyes, but before she could say anything, she heard Megu ask him cheekily, "So, are you really gonna use Rizu in your presentation next week?"

"Perhaps!" called Geiburieru over his left shoulder.

Rizu smacked her face with the palm of her right hand and felt her face redden at thought of being called to the front of the class and assist Geiburieru with his lecture. _I'm fucked,_ she groaned inwardly.

When Rizu entered the instructional room with her English Literature 370 class that following Tuesday, she felt butterflies fluttering around in her stomach with each step she took. She could sense Geiburieru staring at her as he stood quietly behind his computer station, and she trembled when her eyes made contact with his. _I wonder what he's gonna have me do,_ she pondered.

Shortly after everyone sat down at their built-in computer stations, a tall, elegant American woman closed the door behind her and turned to Geiburieru with a stiff lower lip. Geiburieru sighed to himself and immediately realized why Rizu was struggling with her . Jane Cook-Ikeda was the toughest and most stoic ten-year faculty member in the English department Oukan University had ever seen. She had a no-coddling policy with her students and zero-tolerance attitude toward incompetency. She had set high expectations and expected each of her classes to meet them, but some of those expectations were so high and demanding that several students begged their advisors to put them with another professor. Even the head of the foreign language department heard how unfair her grading and her treatment to her classes were, but he could not fire one of his best staff members based on hearsay alone.

After taking a quick roll call with her dark brown eyes, she walked over to the empty seat next to the door and said to Geiburieru, "You may begin whenever you're ready."

"Thank you," said Geiburieru with a curt nod.

He rolled the small arrow on his computer screen over a projector screen icon and clicked on it to begin his slideshow presentation. Then, stepping away from the computer, he turned to the students and greeted, _"Konnichiwa."_

_"Konnichiwa,"_ replied the class in unison.

"Welcome to the Oukan University Library," continued Geiburieru. "My name is Geiburieru Tenshino, and I'm a second-year librarian with you being the first class I get to teach. How fortunate for all of us.

"Dr. Cook-Ikeda informed me that you all have been assigned to a term paper about a particular author and the relationship between said author's work in your textbooks and the English history behind your chosen story or poem. Now, I know researching this information sounds easy, but, truly, it's not. The library has limited resources available, and what we have on the shelves might be outdated for what you're looking for. This is why we created an online database and catalogue page on the library website to provide you with this new information. And what's best about it is that you won't have to worry about missing books or late fees or that slight possibility the article you want has already been checked out and isn't expected to return for another month. These articles are yours to keep.

"Now, between you and me, I can probably guess that over three-fourths of this class has sat through a lecture in this very room like the one you're hearing at this minute, and I can also guess most of you are already bored and think you know what you're doing. But I'm gonna take it a step further: I'm gonna make this more of a hands-on lesson as I'm showing you how to use a couple of programs Dr. Cook-Ikeda and other literature professors have recommended to their classes in the past."

He paused for a moment and shifted his gaze to the far table where Rizu was sitting. "Rizu," he called softly, "why don't you come up here and demonstrate for us?"

Rizu could hear her classmates murmuring among themselves and faintly sniggering under their breaths as she slowly approached the computer station. Without casting a glance at the archangel, she hissed through her teeth, "What do you think you're doing?"

"You told me that I would have complete control over this class for an hour, did you not?" he whispered.

"Yes!"

"And did I not say that I might have you assist me with my presentation?"

"Yes, but—"

"I rest my case."

Rizu shot a cold look at Geiburieru from the corner of her right eye. "Whatever," she said.

The archangel chuckled to himself as he turned his attention back to the class and said, "The first thing I want you all to do is to log onto your computers and click on the icon on your desktop for the library website. We'll wait until everybody's ready, and, please don't try and sneak onto any social network. Dr. Cook-Ikeda, would you mind monitoring your class for a moment?"

"Certainly, Mr. Tenshino," drawled Dr. Cook-Ikeda.

The students groaned loudly, earning themselves a glare from their stoic professor, but they obeyed Geiburieru's instructions and logged into their computer stations. Dr. Cook-Ikeda slowly walked by every table and looked over her students' shoulders to make sure they were not surfing the internet. They felt uncomfortable having her lurk behind them like a great white shark hunting for prey, but even at adulthood, they knew better than to challenge a paid school official's authority.

When the webpage to the library was done loading onto the monitor screens, she looked at Geiburieru and motioned him to continue with his presentation with a nod of her head. "Very well," he said. "I want you to go to the left sidebar and click on the link that says 'Online Article Catalogue'. You will then be redirected to another page with search engines that are categorized by name.

"Now, if you click on 'A' and scroll down just a little bit, you should find a universal database in katakana known as Academia Direct. Academia Direct is a general online database for all areas of education, whether it'd be history, literature, business, mathematics, et cetera. You should have been introduced to it by now, but if you haven't, feel free have a look while you're doing your paper.

"The next thing I want you to do is to exit out that program for a moment, and select the tab at the top of the index that says 'Search in English'. Your list will shift over to the English alphabet, which will allow you to choose articles from any English-speaking country in the world as well as to further your ability to read English. Click on the letter 'L', and if you go halfway down the page to "Li-, you will see a literature-related program that I'm going to introduce to you today known as Literature Search Database, or as we call it here the L.S.D."

Immediately, the room was filled with giggles and deep chuckles, and Geiburieru narrowed his eyes at the students who were trying to hold back their laughter behind their hands. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

"Nothing, sir," chortled a young man in the back of the room. "It's just that you said L.S.D."

Without uttering a sound, Geiburieru approached the student's table with long, graceful strides and stopped just inches away from his heckler with a fierce gleam in his eyes. The young man thought he was seeing fire burning intensely in the archangel's blue orbs, but when he blinked, the flames disappeared. "What the fuck?" he murmured.

Rizu peered over to the side to see her mentor reprimanding the student, who had turned a frightening shade of white. "I would greatly appreciate it if you and your classmates could stop interrupting my lesson with your silly drug references," she heard him speak severely. "We're not in high school anymore, and I, along with Dr. Cook-Ikeda, expect all of you to act like mature adults, not teenagers. You are here to learn and represent Oukan University accordingly. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-y-yes, s-s-sir," stuttered the student.

"Good," hissed Geiburieru.

Realizing that Rizu was still at his computer awaiting for her next set of instructions, he turned on his heels and continued, "Now, as I was saying, the L.S.D. is the most recommended online literature catalogue here at Oukan University, and it has been receptive in other institutions across the country. Not only does it contain articles concerning the literature world but also well-written term papers by some of your fellow graduate classmates, some of which Dr. Cook-Ikeda mentored in an independent study.

"When she first began to assign term papers during the rise of the internet, she did some research and investigation over the L.S.D., thinking that it could one day benefit other literature classes and the school. She brought it to the head librarian, and it was added into the catalogue system as a trial run. Since then, the L.S.D. has found a permanent home in our database, and many literature professors now require at least one source from it to be included into your bibliographies. In your situation, however, Dr. Cook-Ikeda has required a minimum of two sources that come from the L.S.D."

"This should be easy," snorted Rizu.

"What was that you said?" asked Geiburieru.

"Nothing."

"Moving on, you should see three rows of entry boxes with three boxes on each line. Select the box at the top left corner and type in these words: 'Edgar', 'Allen', and 'Poe'. After you've filled the top three boxes with those words, click on the blue 'Search' button at the end of the row.

"As you can see, there are more than one thousand results with the name Edgar Allen Poe within the L.S.D. That's quite a lot of articles to go through, and there's not much time to read every single one of them either. So, to make your search easier, I'm gonna show you how to break it down using keywords. Now, who in this class is doing 'The Raven' for their term paper?"

"I am," mumbled Rizu.

"Well, aren't you the lucky one," teased Geiburieru. "I want you all to scroll to the top of the page, and this time, type in 'The', 'Raven', and 'poem' in the three boxes on the second line. When you're done, click 'Search', and your results should be reduced down to four hundred and eighty-three results.

"You may now go back to the search engine and replace the keywords with those pertaining to your term paper. You might find a full-length article in your results on the first page. Look at it and its summary, and if you think the article will benefit you, click on the link that says, 'Print Article' and select 'OK' when it asks you for your permission to print."

"But, sir, what if we can't find an online article? Mine says to send a request," said one student.

"There should be a link for the Online Article Request form in your article's description. If so, click it and fill out all the necessary fields before you hit 'Submit' at the bottom of the page," instructed Geiburieru. "When something like that occurs, it means the article isn't available for instant printing from the L.S.D. What you need to do is to submit an Online Article Request form, and my colleagues and I will do our best to locate it through other university libraries. It takes us up to ten days to download and print it off, but sometimes we have to charge a fee of up to fifty yen due to availability upon your request. Otherwise, we'd like to try and keep our services free for all students.

"This is the main reason why we highly recommend you to get started now with your research instead of putting it off until the last minute. If you run into a situation where most of your sources are not full-length articles and you only have three days to do your term paper, we won't be able to help you in time. Simple as that. Do your research now instead of later. It will be rewarding to you in the long run.

"Before I turn you loose on your computers, are there any questions?"

"That was one impressive presentation you gave today," commented Rizu as she watched Geiburieru close his office door behind him and sit down into his chair on the other side of his desk with a fresh cup of tea in his hands. "But I'm still curious as to how you almost managed to make that one student shit his pants."

"Well, it doesn't take much to put the fear of Shinmei into mortals," replied Geiburieru dryly.

"You almost gave away your secret, didn't you?"

"I'm not one for yelling until my face turns blue," grunted Geiburieru into his teacup. "Given your generation as a whole, words won't get your point across; actions and emotions will. The kid was just lucky I still had enough patience left before I sprouted my wings and summoned my sword. Had he been heckling at Mikaeru, he would have had his last laugh."

"It sounds like your brother isn't one for jokes," remarked Rizu.

"Mikaeru has always been serious about his role in the army, perhaps too serious at times, but he's one of the best commanders Shinmei could ever ask for."

Rizu gave the archangel a weak smile and watched him take another sip of his tea as silence fell around them. After listening to the wall clock tick five times, she took a deep breath and asked, "Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes," sighed Geiburieru. "I know I told you and your friends that I was not gonna disclose information concerning On'ai's and Waraku's mission. However, considering you are indeed the leader of them all, I think it's best if I told you a little bit of why they came here in the first place."

"If it's about the crystals and the Gates of Pandemonium, I already know," said Rizu.

"But do you know the history of the crystals?" countered Geiburieru.

"History?"

"Every precious stone on this planet has a story to tell, and the crystals that On'ai, Waraku, Myoujou, and the Lady of the Snakes are looking for are no exceptions," began Geiburieru. "Several years ago, about the time you were fighting off demons during your senior year in high school, Shinmei hid five crystals that belonged to the pillars of the Oukan brothers. I thought the crystals were just ordinary stones used for decoration in the Pillar Garden, but it turned out that the crystals were created by Myoujou to summon the Gates of Pandemonium and then later purified by Shinmei to summon the Gates of Heaven. Because of these two opposing factors, they will summon a set of gates according to the nature of the person who has all five crystals in their possession.

"The reason why Myoujou made those crystals was to overturn the current progress of what had been started by the Oukan brothers almost a century ago. Contrary to what you were told through the mouths of school officials, Taro Oukan and his four younger siblings were devout followers of Shinmei, and it was believed that it was Shinmei's plan for them to rebuild what was left of their village and begin what would later become the university."

"But I thought they didn't have any religious ties!" exclaimed Rizu.

"That's exactly what the school didn't want you to know," said Geiburieru. "If word got around that the Oukan brothers prayed to a _kami_ who once told the world that man shall not worship any other deity but him, you wouldn't be sitting inside this room right now. There would have been a lack of funding from the government and the alumni association, and parents would have less likely sent their students to a university that was built with an emphasis on religion. That's why your board of trustees and your president like to keep the brothers' faith in the dark and away from the public eye.

"You see, even though we are living in an age of modern technology, the Japanese still try to keep certain aspects traditional such as religion. They don't like the thought that there is a _kami_ greater than theirs and that we must bow down and worship him and him alone if we want to go to Heaven. Some can't comprehend that notion because they don't want to give their _kami_ for a jealous one while there are those who don't believe in any afterlife.

"The struggle between _kirisutokyou_ and Japan goes all the back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The church had sent _kurisuchan_ missionaries to Japan to bring some people to Shinmei, but the emperors felt threatened about these missionaries and their message of a _kami_ that was greater than theirs. The only way they could silence the word of Shinmei and Iesu was to stop the conversions themselves.

"They first tortured and executed the missionaries and then did the same to those who refused to give up their newfound faith, including their families. Several converts went back to their old ways out of fear and watched those who gave their life to Iesu die before them. It was one of the darkest periods of _kirisutokyou_ in Japan.

"Shortly after the last of the major massacres in the seventeenth century, _kirisutokyou_ was outlawed by the government and many followers who survived the massacres and kept their faith either went into exile in European countries like Spain and Portugal or into hiding. Then, a miracle happened almost three hundred years later: Japan took part in the Convention of Kanagawa thanks to a certain American commodore named Matthew Perry and later the Harris Treaty. The Convention of Kanagawa was a building bridge between the Americans and the Japanese, but it was The Harris Treaty that caused the return of the _kurisuchan_ faith. If I remember correctly, some of your ancestors from the Hikarino branch grew up in the underground and began to openly practice _kirisutokyou_ after the treaty was signed and enforced."

"Yes, they did," answered Rizu.

"Well, the Oukan brothers did not live long enough to see all this come to pass. In fact, they were part of the early underground movement themselves. _Ogosho_ Tokugawa Hidetada had great power over all of Japan at the time of their hiding, and his actions toward the _kurisuchan_ were just as cruel as Hitler was to the _yudaya-jin_ in the Second World War. He had developed a hatred toward _kirisutokyou_, just like his grandpapa Tokugawa Ieyasu_,_ because he feared that it would one day create instability with the _shogunate_ and bring forth an uprising.

"So, one day, he sent his guards into the nearest village to make a spy out of a newly convert. They chose a peasant who barely had enough food to survive day by day, and they brought him into the palace to be interrogated by the _ogosho_…"

"_Tell me why you've chosen to follow a _kami_ greater than ours," inquired Tokugawa Hidetada._

_ The peasant trembled at the cold sneer on the _ogosho's_ face, and his eyes slowly scanned the sharp katana that appeared to be breathing with life in Hidetada's hand. He heard about the ban against kirisutokyou that was enacted by the late shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, and he had assumed that he was handed over to Hidetada to be executed after being caught reading the _seisho_ in public. He watched the _ogosho_ raise his katana and shut his eyes as he waited for his death, but then, he heard the katana fall onto the floor and a hearty chuckle escaping from Hidetada's lips._

_ He looked up and saw Hidetada laughing menacingly at his cowardice. "Come now, you fool! Do you really think I would soil my palace with your traitorous blood, let alone waste my time single-handedly eliminating only one of you?" he spat._

_ "What do you want from me?" asked the peasant. "I don't have much to give—"_

_ "I could care less of what you don't have! All I want to know is the force behind this resistance that has consumed you and other peasants like yourself!"_

_ "What resistance?"_

_ "You know what I'm talking about: _kirisutokyou!_ Who introduced it to you?"_

_ "This strange man!" spluttered the peasant as he pulled out the _seisho_ from his sleeves. "I'm not entirely sure where he came from, but he gave this book to read—"_

_ "Nothing more than a bunch of lies!" hissed Hidetada._

_ Snatching the _seisho_ from the peasant's hands, he growled, "Now, you tell me where this man went and how many decided to follow him, and I might spare your life for your loyalty to the _shogunate_. What do you say?"_

"The very next day, Hidetada sent the peasant to the secret gathering in an abandoned stable where many villagers listened to the missionary's message," continued Geiburieru. "He had his guardsman stand outside the doors where they waited for the peasant's signal to attack, while Hidetada himself was hiding among the bushes with his katana ready to kill.

"Just as the missionary began to pray, the guards broke into the stable and took him outside where he was greeted multiple times by Hidetada's blade in the chest. As he was lying in his own blood, the missionary asked Shinmei to forgive Hidetada for brutally attacking him, but Hidetada didn't want to be forgiven for doing what he felt was right for Japan. And, so, he beheaded the missionary with a one clean swipe…"

_"All of you are hereby declared as traitors to the _shogunate_, and the punishment for such treachery is death," announced Hidetada as he stepped inside the stable and slowly walked down the main aisle with the missionary's blood dripping off of the tip of his katana. "However, being the reasonable man that I am, I'm giving you the chance to renounce your faith and forget what you've been taught by this outsider, but if you choose to remain loyal to your so-called Shinmei, you will soon share the fate of your little headless friend outside."_

_ Several peasants trembled at Hidetada's words, but not a single soul stepped forward and walked out of the stable. Women held their children in their arms against the walls, and their husbands hovered over them to keep the _ogosho_ from laying a finger on their families. Hidetada snorted and slid his katana into its carrier at his side. "Fine," he said icily. "You've left me with no other choice."_

_ He strode to the entrance and said to the guards at the threshold, "Lock these doors and make sure nobody escapes. We'll see just how powerful their _kami_ really is."_

_ A wooden beam fell across the latches and trapped the villagers that were left inside the stable. While a few men peered through the small gaps in the door, a middle-aged mother pushed her five young sons through a small opening along the back wall in one of the last two stalls. "Go!" she urged them. "And be quiet before Hidetada catches you!"_

_ After helping his younger brothers through the hole, she turned to twelve-year-old Taro Oukan and said, "Be a good role model to your brothers, and take good care of them for me."_

_ "But, Mama, what about you?" asked Taro._

_ "We will meet again someday, my child," she answered with a chaste kiss on Taro's forehead. "Now, go!"_

_ As Taro crawled through the opening, the guardsmen placed dried sticks and leftover hay along the door and then sprinkled some gunpowder over the piles. "The kindling is ready, sir," said the head samurai._

_ "Good," praised Hidetada. Snapping a piece of the makeshift fence over his thigh, he then lowered its end to the samurai and ordered, "Light it."_

_ The villagers began to crowd against the far wall as they watched Hidetada approach the stable. He stopped when his right foot brushed the kindling, and, with an evil smirk on his lips, he let go of his burning piece of wood and set the stable on fire._

_ Screams from the other side of the inferno filled the dusky air, and Hidetada watched the roaring blaze consume the bodies without a hint of remorse in his black eyes. Although he would be lacking in taxes at the end of the year, money was the last of his current concerns. He knew that the missionary had been housed within his walls far too long, and he was almost certain there were more converts practicing in secrecy from the _shogunate_._

_ "Search every house for those that may have escaped from under our noses!" he ordered his guardsmen over the fire. "I want all traitors to the _shogunate_ dead: men, women, and children alike! Do not disappoint me!"_

_ Just as he turned his gaze to the ground, a small, black object near the missionary's body caught his eye, and he walked over to see what it was. At his feet was a book entitled _Holy Bible_ across the front with the name of the dead missionary written on the first page. With a scowl, he threw the book into the fire and growled deeply, "It ends here."_

"So, what happened to the Oukan brothers?" asked Rizu softly.

"They fled the village while Hidetada's men were busy burning more than half of it to the ground," sighed Geiburieru. "It was a horrible sight: converts of all ages were burned alive in their homes, neighbors handed over their _kurisuchan_ neighbors to Hidetada to be put to death… It was a nightmare.

"The very morning near Nagasaki, an underground _kurisuchan_ farmer and his wife found the five boys sleeping in their barn. They took the children in, bathed, and fed them. When they asked the children why they were on the run, Taro told them everything that Hidetada had done and begged them to spare them from the _shogunate_. The farmer and his wife, both of whom were well past their prime, took pity on the children and could not bear the thought of watching them die beneath Hidetada's katana. So, they mutually agreed to raise the children as their own.

"The boys grew up into wise and selfless men and were educated with what the farmer and his wife taught them during their childhood. When Taro left for Nagasaki, he came to a village that was beyond repair by all means. It had suffered from draughts, floods, and wildfires over the years, and the people had lost hope for a community revival.

"Taro spoke to the people about their dilemma, and with the help of his four brothers, they restored the village using their farming techniques. The village flourished with livestock and produce, and soon word about this miracle spread all across the country and even into the imperial court where Hidetada's son took full control over the _shogunate_. Tokugawa Iemitsu had no idea the men who rebuilt a dying village were the same boys who ran away from his papa because of their faith and asked the Oukan brothers to return to their homeland to help clean up the damage that Hidetada left behind. The brothers hesitated as they recalled how cruel the _shogunate_ had been to their family, but their adopted parents assured them that as long as they were careful about practicing _kirisutokyou_ in secret, Iemitsu wouldn't be a threat to them.

"As the years went by, the village became one of the more modern regions of Japan with aqueducts and dams running along the river that now runs through downtown Oukan and harvest fields sprouting up on the other side of the wall. With all this happening, the Oukan brothers made great investments in trade and farming, and using most of their wealth, they asked Iemitsu to provide them his blessings toward a bigger project: a school of higher education to teach young adults the fundamentals of government and agricultural science. Iemitsu agreed to their idea, and he gave the brothers enough money to open the school.

"Shortly after the school was established, the brothers believed that it was time for them to go against the _shogunate_ and tell a selective group of people about Shinmei. They would first leave gifts for students and faculty members who were downtrodden or simply frustrated with life in general and then make a connection with them. Once that connection was made, each brother would set up a lunch meeting with the person in question and chat over an afternoon meal. Most of the time, the brothers were able to mention something about Shinmei in the middle of their conversations, but only a handful started to believe for themselves after seeing the benevolence in the Oukan brothers' contributions to the community and to the school. Those that did come to know Shinmei understood that it was still unlawful to practice _kirisutokyou,_ and, so, they did it behind closed doors and closed windows in secret.

"The brothers eventually died one by one from old age, and their legacy left such a major impact on the village that the people believed that it would have been appropriate to name both the town and the school after them. And as the school developed into a public university through the funding of the brothers' descendants and the alumni association, the president decided to build a memorial in honor of the Oukan family in the form of pillars."

"But if Myoujou created the crystals, then how did the school obtain them?" asked Rizu.

"The president found them in a box on his doorstep on the night the blueprints for the Pillar Garden were approved, and he thought they would make an excellent finishing touch to the pillars," explained Geiburieru. "He thought that an innocent soul might have wanted to donate them to the project, but he never pushed the school to search for the crystal's owner. He just left that topic alone, even when the pillars were finally revealed to the public."

"So, the president basically fell into Myoujou's trap."

"Yes, and that's why Shinmei hid the crystals from under Myoujou's nose after he tampered with them. He knew the time to use the crystals and summon the Gates of Pandemonium would one day come, and I'm afraid the time has arrived."

"I see."

Rizu lowered her gaze to her feet as she thought more about the Japanese initial reaction toward _kirisutokyou_. "It's hard to believe that the brothers did everything for Shinmei but in secret because the government would have condemned them to death," she continued. "And the fact that the school won't recognize the main reason why it was built just sickens me! Why can't they just tell us the truth? The oppression is over!"

"But it's too late," sighed Geiburieru. "Do you remember what happened when the Harris Treaty went into effect? Many descendents of those who renounced their faith because of Hidetada refused to pick up their ancestors' short-lived faith. They had become accustomed to a life without Shinmei. The resistance still lives on, but the consequence of death is no more.

"And, yet, to bring forth the truth of what had already been established by the school's officials could put all of us into jeopardy. I would lose this job, and you and the others would be forced to either transfer to another university or drop out completely."

"But why?" asked Rizu.

"A lot of your classmates come from anti-religious families, and if word got to them that their children were attending a public institution that was built according to Shinmei's will, they would rally to shut the school down because it would be offensive to those who don't believe in Shinmei."

"That's not true!" exclaimed Rizu.

"I know it isn't, but world governments have been catering to the _mushinsha_ movement for quite a while all because the modern man gets easily offended about _kirisutokyou_. Some people believe that you don't need religion to walk through the gates of Heaven, and then there are those who don't think such thing exists. As much as you and I would like to see the truth come out from the shadows, I'm afraid it can't be done."

"I wish there was a way."

"Me too."

That evening at sunset, Rizu stood before the bronze angel statue in the middle of the memorial site and silently fixed her gaze on the sculpture's face. A cool autumn breeze brushed against her face, but she ignored the slight sting and kept her attention on the angel. From where she was standing, she could see the fine details of the angel's face and took notice of the sadness in the grooves of her eyes and the faint cry on her parted lips.

_Could she be the same angel who watched all those people die during Hidetada's reign?_ she thought.

"She's very beautiful, don't you agree?"

Rizu jumped at the sound of a soft feminine voice, and she turned her head to the side as Ami approached her. "You sure like to sneak up on others, don't you?" she asked sourly.

"It's not that I like to sneak up on people, but I tend to startle them when they're not looking," said Ami. "So, what brings you here tonight?"

"I don't know. I guess I just need some fresh air. I've got quite a bit on my mind right now," answered Rizu.

"After watching you stare at the statue for almost a half-hour, I would assume your mind is finally cleared," jested Ami.

Looking at the young woman from the corner of her eye, Rizu smirked and remarked, "You've been spying on me for that long, huh?"

"I didn't want to disturb you," reasoned Ami.

"Well, I appreciate your thoughtfulness."

"You're welcome. Now, if you don't mind telling me, what's troubling you?"

"How do you know?"

"How do I know what?"

"How do you know something's been troubling me?" asked Rizu.

"Because you look like you're searching for answers from the angel," replied Ami.

"I must have been zoning out. I know better than to ask a statue for help," snorted Rizu.

"Seriously, Rizu, what brings you here?"

"This memorial," said Rizu. "I was told today that there was more to the story of the Oukan brothers than what the school wanted us to know, and it angers me that the truth had to be buried along with their name. It's not fair that we have to hide it out of fear! Times have changed since the oppression, no? Don't you think it's to let the truth be known?"

Ami's face softened at Rizu's bold speech, but she lowered her gaze and sighed in disappointment. "I agree, but don't you know the truth is standing right in front of you?" she countered. "That angel was placed here at the request of the sculptor. He heard the story from some of the brothers' descendants, and he believed that their faith should not be ignored or forgotten. So, he created the angel as a symbol for protection in order to please everybody and their beliefs, but that's not the reason why she was built in the first place.

"Look at how she's reaching out to you with her right hand; look at how close she is to crying because she can't save you from where she's standing. She is the symbol for the oppression the brothers were facing against the _shogunate_. For over two hundred years, she could not save Japan from damnation, and she mourned for the loss of all those souls. Nobody knows why she's so sad except for those that do like you and me."

"I never noticed it until now," confessed Rizu.

"Most people don't until they've heard the entire story. They'll eventually come back here to see it for themselves, and when they do, they'll walk away wiser than when they first entered the Pillar Garden," explained Ami.

"Is that so?"

"Well, didn't you learn something new in the last five minutes?"

"Yes."

"Then, it is so."

Rizu opened her mouth to speak, but when she turned her head to face Ami, her companion was already across the halfway point of the Pillar Garden and almost to the sidewalk that ran past it. She found that she had no energy or determination to move her legs, and instead of running after Ami, she decided to give the angel one last look for the night.

She felt the corners of her lips curl upward into a small smile at the realization of Ami's observation, and a light chuckle escaped from the back of her throat. She was, indeed, a little bit wiser, just like how Ami said she would be.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

The Angelic Guardians' (Not-So) Excellent Adventure – A Birthday Dilemma!

"Say, Rizu, isn't Robu having a birthday next week?" asked Beronika the following evening during start of the dinner hour in the food court.

"Yeah, the first of October," said Rizu.

"Well, aren't you gonna send him a little something before then?"

Rizu shrugged her shoulders and pulled a small dango off of its bamboo skewer with her teeth. "I might," she answered in between bites, "but I'd have to beg my parents to give me a thousand yen to get what he really wants."

"A thousand yen? Whatever for?"

"Computers, gaming consoles, maybe that new virtual rock star gaming platform that came out last year. He's got an expensive taste for gifts."

"Libran nerds," muttered Megu.

"I'm sure you can find something cheaper than that," said Beronika. "What exactly is he into besides electronics?"

"_Star Wars_, wolves, manga," began Rizu.

"You," teased Megu.

She grimaced for a moment when she saw Beronika giving her a stern look and cried, "What? He seems to be into her! It's only natural for me to say such a thing!"

"Seriously, you guys, I don't know what to buy for Robu's birthday!" sighed Rizu.

"How old is he gonna be again? Nineteen?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess going all the way to Kirugoru and buying him his first legal drink is out of the question," retorted Megu.

"How about a chocolate bar?" suggested Beronika.

Rizu looked at her in disbelief and said in exasperation, "What do you think Robu is? A girl? He _hates_ chocolate—milk, dark, crunchy, even the ones that are peanut butter-filled! You name it; he won't eat it!"

"It was only a suggestion," mumbled Beronika.

"And, besides, you've never said anything about his likes and dislikes," snorted Megu.

"Look, as much as I appreciate the two of you trying to help me out here, I'm better off doing this by myself," said Rizu.

"But don't you want us to help?"

"I'll be fine, Megu," assured Rizu as she stood up from the table and gathered her trash onto her tray. Reaching down next to her chair for her messenger bag, she added, "I'm sure I can find something at the mall."

Beronika and Megu watched Rizu walk to the condiment and trash countertop island in front of the bookstore on the other side of the food court and sighed heavily in unison. "I wish we could do something to make her search easier," lamented Beronika.

"I don't blame you," agreed Megu, "but I'm worried about Rizu. She's making a big deal about Robu's birthday, more so than she ever did with ours, and they're not even dating!"

"Probably because she likes him."

"Yeah, I know that, B! And I also know she's trying to win his approval too, but you don't see me going out of my way just to lavish a guy I like with gifts, do you? Rizu's gonna make herself look desperate if she's not careful, and we all know Robu is not dumb."

"I think she's already crossed the line of desperation, but Robu's being such a coward about it," said Beronika. "I don't know about you, but I think we, as a team, need to do something before he starts calling Rizu a weirdo for having an obsession on him. If she sends him a gift and we don't, he might come up with some conclusions that could break her heart."

"You're right," said Megu. "I know what's going on between them isn't one-sided, but I don't want Rizu to smother Robu into giving into her when he's not ready. We need to balance it out."

"So, what do you think we should get him? A stuffed wolf, or is that a little too immature?" inquired Beronika.

"I don't know!" replied Megu. "Why don't you call the guys if you need a little input? Jeison seems to know _everything_ about love from a man's point of view!"

"I don't think Jeison is the right guy I need to ask. Remember, he's trying to pursue me!" reminded Beronika as she pulled out her cell phone from her school jacket.

"And you don't think Deibiddo has a clue?"

"I need love advice from an intelligent gentleman, not from some desperate Romeo like Jeison!"

"Desperate, yes, but I don't think Romeo is the right word to describe my cousin. It sounds too nice," said Megu. "In my opinion, Jeison is more like…"

"Me-Tarzan, you-Jane?" finished Beronika.

"Ape-man works!"

"And that's exactly the reason why I'm not gonna call him. You give that guy an inch, and he'll take a mile."

In his room on the first floor of the residence complex he shared with Rizu, Deibiddo sat in front of his computer writing a new symphonic piece for his Music Composition 404 class. He had been working hard on his midterm assignment for so long that he had been negligent to his dorm as the weeks went by. White sheets of paper and clear plastic bags from the dining halls with used plasticware were strung out all over the floor, and empty cola bottles were laying around the overflowing trash can next to his desk. If he had a roommate who was diagnosed with an orderly compulsive disorder, he would have either been forced to clean up his mess or be asked to live somewhere else.

The sound of his cell phone ringing from underneath the sandwich wrapped on his desk startled him, and he took the thin paper, rolled it up into a ball, and threw it over his shoulder to answer the call. _"Moshi moshi,"_ he greeted.

"Hey, Deibiddo, can you help us out for a minute?" asked Beronika on the other line.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, it's Robu—"

"What did he do this time?" groaned Deibiddo as he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Nothing! What I meant to say was that Robu's birthday is coming up, and we need to think of something to send him! Maybe a little gift to say that we haven't forgotten him or anything—"

"And what about Rizu? You know she's gonna want to give him a present outside of the team."

"That's just it!" said Beronika. "She's making this sound so important to her as if he's really her boyfriend and she needs to make him happy on his special day! Megu and I are just worried that she might be going over her boundaries with Robu! If we don't send him a gift, it's gonna make us look like we don't care about him and Rizu obsessed, and we don't want to see Rizu get hurt by love again, regardless if Robu is her soul mate or not."

"So, what do you want me to do?" asked Deibiddo.

"I just need an input on what to get Robu," replied Beronika.

"Well, has Rizu already picked out a gift?"

"No. She's going to the mall tonight to see what's over there."

"Screw the mall!" cried Deibiddo. "She's not gonna find what she really needs to ship to Robu over there!"

"Really?" drawled Beronika.

"Really."

"Then, let me ask you this: if a girl, who happens to be your best friend of a few years, is crushing heavily on you and wants to get you something for your birthday, what would you like from her?"

"Beronika, do you honestly want to know the truth?"

"Just tell me!"

"A nice blowjob," answered Deibiddo with a smirk.

Beronika felt her face turn a deep shade of red, which caused Megu to laugh uncontrollably in her seat across the table. "Deibiddo!" she hissed.

"What? You asked for my opinion!" said Deibiddo defensively.

"Yes, but we're talking about Robu, not some pervert!"

"Hey! I wasn't the one asking what a guy would like from a girl for his birthday in the first place! Now, if I were Rizu, I'd take a trip to Kirugoru University, find out which dorm Robu's been assigned to for the year, and tie myself up to his bedpost in nothing but sexy lingerie and a corset! I might not be a mind reader, but I'm almost positive that's exactly what Robu would like to have from Rizu, considering the number of times I've caught him staring at her this summer."

"I can't believe you'd suggest such a thing over the phone, Deibiddo!" admonished Beronika. "And I thought you were a gentleman!"

"I am a gentleman!" insisted Deibiddo. "I just happen to be a sexually deprived male, which is just as bad as a sex addict getting groove on every week until he has nothing—"

"I don't want to know!" interrupted Beronika.

"I'm just saying!"

"And I'm dead serious! What can we give to Robu from the team?"

"How about a wolf plushie like that looks like Seiji?" suggested Deibiddo.

"The thought has crossed my mind already once tonight."

"Already once? What? Is there something wrong with the idea?"

"I can't imagine a nineteen-year-old young man like Robu Tsuchino with a wolf plushie! It's gonna make him look like a dork!" exclaimed Beronika.

"B, in case you have forgotten, Robu's already a dork!"

"Then, it's gonna make him a bigger dork!"

"Tell you what, I'm gonna call Jeison after I hang up and have him meet us at the mall in about an hour."

"And what about Rizu?" asked Beronika.

"You'll see," replied Deibiddo. "I just need you and Megu to get your asses over here in a few minutes."

Rizu had just booted her laptop at her desk to check her email when she heard someone pounding on her door, but Keitorin silently motioned her to stay as she slid off the side of her bed and walked across the room to greet their visitor. She blushed at the sight of Deibiddo standing on the other side of the threshold with Beronika and an unknown redheaded girl escorting him. "_Konbanwa,_ Deibiddo," she said shyly with a bow.

"_Konbanwa,_ Keitorin," said Deibiddo, bowing politely in return. "Is Rizu here?"

"Yeah!" called Rizu from behind her bed. "I'm just checking my email before I head out! What are you guys up to?"

"We decided to tag along," replied Megu. "We know you're still having a hard time deciding what to get Robu, and we really want to help. That and we feel obligated to give him a gift too."

"But, you guys—"

"Look, Rizu, Robu is much of a friend to us as he is to you, and we don't want him to feel left out of the circle just because we forgot his birthday," added Beronika. "I don't think Robu would want that either, do you?"

"No," sighed Rizu in defeat. She had hoped to have gone shopping alone and mail out his present the next morning when the school post office in the Student Center opened, but she also knew it would have been selfish of her to not let her friends in on the surprise. "Alright, fine. You can come along," she grumbled.

Slipping into her black Oukan University sweatshirt jacket, she first stuffed her front pockets with her cell phone and her student identification card and then her purse with her set of keys. "I'll be back as soon as possible," she said to her roommate.

"Not worries," replied Keitorin.

As she watched the door shut behind Rizu and her friends, she cocked her head to the side and asked aloud, "Who's Robu?"

Rizu grumbled all the way to the exit of Lolita's Closet after walking through the aisles empty-handed. "Just my luck!" she muttered. "I wasted a good twenty minutes for nothing!"

"And I thought you said Robu was into that kind of stuff," said Jeison.

"He is! I just couldn't find anything that was screaming, 'Pick me! Pick me! I look good on Robu!'"

"Sounds like the inner Aries is getting in the way," mused Megu.

"What does my sign have anything to do with what just happened?" demanded Rizu.

"Robu's a Libra, right? Libras are known for their good looks and good taste for fashion," explained Megu. "And since you were born under the sign of Aries, you want him to live up to that Libran nature, no?"

"I guess so."

"See? Even though you do respect his interest in Gothicism, the inner you is actually disgusted by his wardrobe and wishes that Robu could do better, especially if he ever grows the balls to ask you out on a date. You're very much attracted to his personality, but deep down, you want to see the real man beneath the whiteout makeup."

"Are you sure you didn't borrow one of Beronika's astrology books to incorporate all this into your theory of love?" asked Rizu suspiciously. "I'm not sure if I want to believe you, considering you've yet to have a steady boyfriend."

"Well, it's got to be either the stars or little a bit of your mama's personality for your internal block," said Megu.

"Whatever."

Rizu continued to walk toward the northwest wing with her head hanging in disappointment, but her four friends remained behind in front of Lolita's Closet with concern looks in their eyes. "I hate to see what she's like around Christmastime," remarked Deibiddo. "It must be hard for her to find something for Robu then."

"Christmastime? More like any time of the year!" snorted Beronika.

"What are we going to do, you guys?" asked Jeison with a heavy sigh.

"I still say we find him a black wolf plushie and let Rizu worry about what she's gonna buy for Robu," replied Deibiddo firmly. "It's going on eight o'clock, and the mall closes in an hour. Plus, I still got to finish my midterm project!"

"You've been working on that new song for almost two weeks! You should have been done by now!" cried Megu.

"Composing a great symphony doesn't happen overnight! It's an art—it takes time to perfect it!"

"Well, since Deibiddo is persistent about getting out of here before they lock the doors, we better start looking. Where do we begin?" asked Beronika.

"The toy store! Where else?"

Meanwhile, Rizu sulked all the way to the second floor and walked by a couple of clothing stores until something peculiar on the other side of a display window of a spiritual gift shop caught her eye. Her gaze fell onto a pair of leather symbolic bracelets with charms made out of solid pewter. One bracelet had the image of the ankh while its mate donned the yin yang, and she was intrigued by the set's beauty. "I wonder if Robu would wear them," she murmured.

"Marvelous, are they not?" asked the storekeeper.

Rizu jumped at the sound of the woman's raspy voice and said breathlessly, "Yes, they are! They must be expensive with all that leather!"

"Quite the contrary," argued the storekeeper. "That's not pure leather, and the pewter is fairly cheap. I'm only asking for twenty yen."

"For the entire set?"

"That's right."

"That's awesome!"

Rizu's face soon fell, and she lowered her head as she added, "If only I had enough money to buy one myself."

"Oh?" inquired the storekeeper. "This isn't for you?"

"No. You see, I have a… friend who's having a birthday next week, and I want to find him something that he'd like."

"And you think these bracelets would make a perfect gift to give to him?"

"Out of everything in this mall so far, they're the only ones to have caught my eye, and I want to send out my package in the morning."

"I see what you mean," chuckled the storekeeper. "You know, the bracelets can be used as tokens of love or friendship. You keep one for yourself, and your special friend will always have the other."

"Kinda like those Best Friends Forever charms?"

"In a way. So, do you want them?"

Rizu longingly looked at the bracelets one last time, silently debating if she was making the right decision. _Those B.F.F. charms were meant for everlasting friendships. But this past summer just proved to be such a trial for the two of us, and we almost didn't make it. So, why am I getting the feeling that this is what I need to buy for Robu?_ she thought.

Her friends had just walked off the escalator when they found Rizu walking out of the shop with a small brown gift bag in her right hand. "I guess she wasn't looking in the right place," commented Jeison.

"And from the way she's smiling, I think she finally found that special gift," added Megu.

"Hey, guys!" called Rizu as she greeted them with a wave. "Any luck?"

"Don't you know how hard it is to find a stuffed black wolf these days?" complained Deibiddo. "The toy store had every kind of wolf plushie but jet black!"

"That's because they're uncommon."

"I'm telling you, guys, for a big mall with no empty stores, this sucks! Where else am I gonna find a black wolf plushie?"

"Um, Deibiddo, how good are you at skill games?" asked Megu.

"Not now, Megu! I've got a present to track down in the next forty minutes!" growled Deibiddo.

Jeison placed his hands on both sides of Deibiddo's head and turned it toward the direction of a crane game that was sitting along the wall outside the arcade room across from them. "Look no more!" he said.

The pit was filled with many prizes ranging from toy jewelry to plush animals and popular anime characters, and sitting in the middle of the pile was a stuffed black wolf toy with black beady eyes staring at the quintet. The animal had a striking resemblance to Seiji, and it was beckoning someone to take him home.

Deibiddo let out a great sigh of relief and began to dig around his pants pocket for loose change. "I'm sure I've got a coin or two around here somewhere," he said. "Ah ha!"

He walked up to the machine and inserted a coin in its corresponding slot. With a time limit of thirty seconds, he moved the joystick to position the metal claw directly over his target. Megu peered through the side paneling and breathed, "Wow! He's good at this!"

"I've played similar games over the years at Roganu Beach," explained Deibiddo. "It's a great way to kill time on the boardwalk during your break. I can't tell you how many prizes I've won."

"Probably not as many as Robu," said Rizu.

The claw wobbled back and forth over the wolf, and with one second to spare, Deibiddo pressed the red button at the top of the joystick and watched the extended fingers reach for the toy's head. "Yes! I got you now!" he crowed.

Everyone held their breath in anticipation as the claw began to rise above the pile with the toy in its grasp, but as the contraption moved forward toward Deibiddo, the wolf slowly slipped between the tips and landed on its side.

"Damn it!" cried Deibiddo. "I almost had it!"

"Let me try," said Jeison.

Rizu shook her head and watched each of her friends try to win the prize. After hearing Beronika cursing at the machine during her turn, she smirked and strode past the others as they searched through their purses and pockets for more spare change. "Great! What are we going to do now?" asked Deibiddo.

They lifted their heads as they heard a faint _cha-ching_ noise, followed by the sound of a coin falling through the coin slot. They looked to the side to find Rizu directing the claw to where the wolf fell last. She pushed the red button on the joystick, and the metal hand slowly lowered itself onto the toy.

"You guys don't think she's gonna get it, do you?" asked Megu aloud.

Fine tips wrapped around the wolf's neck and firmly secured the toy in the claw's grasp. Five pairs of eyes watched the claw move toward the chute in the front corner of the pit and dropped the toy inside where it popped out next to Rizu's left leg. "I'm afraid she just did," said Jeison.

Rizu reached her hand into the flap of the chute to retrieve the wolf. She then gave it to Deibiddo and said, "Here you go."

"Why are you giving it to me? You won it fair and square!" said Deibiddo.

"But didn't you want to give it to Robu?"

"Yes, but you were gonna get it anyway."

Putting the toy back into her hands, Deibiddo added, "Just make sure you give us the credit when you mail it to him, okay?"

"I will," promised Rizu.

Shortly after returning from the mall, Rizu placed the stuffed wolf inside a cardboard box with the ankh charm bracelet wrapped around its neck and a birthday card propped along the side. She took several pieces of tape and sealed the flap shut to keep it secured during its journey to Robu's school mailbox. "There! Finished and all set for a long trek to Kirugoru tomorrow morning!" she exclaimed. "I just know Robu's gonna love what we got him!"

"Speaking of which, who is this Robu person?" inquired Keitorin from her desk. "You've never mentioned anything about him to me. Is your boyfriend at another school?"

Rizu's face grew red, and she could feel the slight burning sensation glowing on the back of her neck. "Well, no, not really. He's just, uh, he's just a very good friend of mine!" she replied hastily.

Keitorin gave her a knowing smile and said, "Whatever you say, Rizu."


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

A Horseman with No Name – A Final Decision!

The Kenji Oukan Building was the home to several of the school's liberal arts programs such as classic culture, criminal justice, foreign language, psychology, and philosophy and criminal justice. In addition to classes, the Student Tutoring Center and the offices for all freshmen advisors were built on the third floor in the east wing.

What made the Kenji Oukan Building one of the most unique structures on campus, besides the number of liberal arts courses under a single roof, was its layout. It had a complex floor plan and confused many new students—freshmen and transfer students alike—who entered through the doors on their first day of class. There were two wings separating the classic culture, criminal justice, and foreign language departments from the others, and the only way to get to the other wing without going outside was a small corridor next to the small student and faculty lounge near the north entrance.

No one could explain why the original blueprints called for such a plan when the school erected the building to honor Kenji Oukan, the second oldest brother of the Oukan family, but some of the school's finest historians claimed that Kenji had a fascination with puzzles during his childhood. He was fond of mind games, numbers, and labyrinths, and it was believed that he would play in his adoptive parents' fields and pretend that he was running through a giant labyrinth with a Minotaur chasing after him.

Two professors from the foreign language department were spotted walking out of the main entrance to the west wing after a long three-hour period with their respective weekly evening classes. They left the doors unlocked, but they had also switched on the security system before they stepped outside. As they passed a tall shrub on their way to their vehicles, a python slithered through the branches and used its tail to pull open the door.

It stuck out its tongue with a soft hiss to taste the air inside the building. It looked up and found the box to the security system mounted against the wall. Crawling on its belly, it lifted itself from the floor and pressed its nose against the red button that said, "OFF." Then, with precise aim and force, the security system was destroyed in a single strike of the snake's tail.

As the red laser lights dimmed into the darkness, Medosa stepped inside and watched the python slither across several steps in front of her. "Keep looking, my pet," she crooned beneath her hood. "It's in here somewhere."

The python made a left turn in front of the women's restroom, but it let out an angry hiss after encountering nothing but closed classroom doors. It slithered past Medosa and continued its search on the first floor until it reached two set of stairs—one going up to the second floor and the other going down to the lounge and the north entrance—and hissed loudly in frustration, clearly telling its mistress that it was not going up if it meant going down such an incline.

Medosa growled at her pet as she approached it and grabbed it behind the head. "If you don't want to take the steps, fine! We still got another portion of this building to cover!" she spat.

She threw the python down the other staircase and watched it bounce on the floor several times. The snake drew itself up, and with a shake of its head, it slithered down the hall toward the east wing.

Outside the west entrance, On'ai and Waraku stood outside the west entrance in concern. They had witnessed a mysterious hooded figure and a python breaking into the building and shutting down the security system, and they were certain the two trespassers were working for Myoujou. "It looks like the second crystal's been located," said Waraku.

"Then, let's get going," said On'ai. "We can't afford to lose this one."

"Do you think we'll see the others tonight?" asked Waraku.

On'ai let out a snort of disgust and replied, "I hope not. We've already let one crystal slip through our fingers because of them, and I'll be damned if we let Myoujou pick off another one from us."

They quickly dashed through the doors, but they were unaware of a dark blue SUV that had driven past the building along the main road. Megu had caught a glimpse of them after looking at the scenery from her window, and she suddenly pressed her hands on the glass when she saw Waraku's face in the light from the streetlamp above her, startling Jeison in the driver's seat next to her. "Turn around!" she yelled.

"What for?" asked Jeison.

"I think there might be a demon attack back there!"

"Are you sure?"

Megu whipped her head over her shoulder and gave Jeison a serious look. "I just saw On'ai and Waraku go inside the Kenji Oukan Building! How more sure can I get?" she snapped.

Jeison sighed in resignation. He felt torn between his opinions toward the two new Angelic Guardians and his service to Shinmei, but he knew in his heart that duty came first above prejudice. "Okay, okay," he mumbled. "We better let the others know about this."

"I'm already on it! Just go!"

By the time she had reached the last step, Medosa wheezed heavily and tried to catch her breath from following her python throughout the entire east wing. She found her pet throwing itself against the steel door, and she opened it far enough to let the python slither to a white wall across the elevators. "What is it?" she asked.

The python tasted the air and pounded the rough surface with its nose, signaling its mistress that the crystal was trapped on the other side. "Well done, my pet. I knew I could count on you," praised Medosa. "Now, stand back while I collect our prize."

"I don't think so!" said On'ai from behind Medosa's left shoulder as he stepped out of the elevator with Waraku by his side. "That crystal belongs to us!"

"And who you do think you are, Angelic twerps?" hissed Medosa.

"I am On'ai, the Angelic Guardian of Nature and Goodness," answered On'ai.

"And I am Waraku, the Angelic Guardian of the Ocean and Peace," added Waraku.

"On'ai and Waraku? So, you must be the Chosen Ones from Tokyo," purred Medosa. "How nice of you outsiders to join the party, but I don't believe I've given you a proper welcome, no? Well, then, allow me to introduce to you an old friend of mine from my homeland."

The sound of hooves galloping in the distance bounced off the walls as On'ai and Waraku listened closely to the noise. With each passing second, the galloping grew louder, and they could hardly believe the shadow that was approaching. "What is that?" asked Waraku.

"I'm afraid you don't want to know," breathed On'ai.

Inside the west wing on the first floor, Tamashii and her friends made a thorough search for any sign of demonic activity. They tried to look inside the classrooms and the professors' offices, but every door was locked for the night. "Wonderful!" grumbled Tamashii as she twisted the small knob to Dr. Cook-Ikeda's office. "There's no way we can get inside these rooms without a key! What are we gonna do now?"

"Well, there's the second floor, and we still need to cover the east wing," reminded Shi.

"Let's split up: Shi and I will take care of the second floor, and you girls go ahead and search the other side," instructed Inochi.

"Got it!" affirmed Tamashii, Medetai, and Iinaka.

As the trio ran down the small set of steps to the east wing, Shi and Inochi walked the halls of the second floor with their scythe and lyre in their possession. They tried to open every classroom door for clues, but like the ones on the floor below them, they would not budge. "I hate to say this, but I don't think we're gonna find anything here either," said Shi. "It looks like this entire wing is crystal clear."

"Nice pun, Shi," retorted Inochi. "I guess we've got nothing to worry about. We better go find the others and see if they're okay."

Suddenly, a loud whinnying reached their ears, and Shi and Inochi jumped at the sound that was coming from the thick wall across from them. "Did you just hear that?" asked Inochi. "That sounded like a horse!"

The whinnying was soon followed by a set of heavy hooves galloping across the third floor. "That's because there _is_ a horse!" barked Shi. "Let's move it!"

They took a right turn past the computer lab and climbed up another set of stairs that led to nothing but more offices in the criminal justice department. "I'm pretty sure the wings connect somewhere up here," insisted Shi.

"If I remember correctly, the blueprints called for just one, which is on the first floor," said Inochi.

"But I swear there's an entrance here! I know this building inside and out! It's probably along the walls or something!"

"Shi, we don't have time to look for an exit that doesn't exist! Let's get out of here and find the girls!" cried Inochi as he grabbed Shi's left wrist and pulled him down the stairs. "Shinmei knows what that thing could be doing to them right now!"

Meanwhile in the east wing, Tamashii, Medetai, and Iinaka opened the door to the small set of stairs that led to the second and third floor. Looking at the tight space around them, Iinaka remarked to Tamashii, "I don't think I could survive going up and down these steps without having some room to breathe! Has the school ever heard of expansion?"

"The Kenji Oukan Building is part of the old quad, and you know how the board of trustees feels about this half of campus. They like to preserve historical Oukan University with a few touch-ups here and there," explained Tamashii.

"Well, the next time this place goes under renovation, I want you to make a suggestion for wider stairways! I'm partially claustrophobic!"

"Iinaka, the next renovation isn't scheduled until I'm done with school. You just better hope you don't end up with classes in religion or philosophy in your schedule."

"I'm taking Philosophy 100 next semester just so I can get enough credits to graduate," chimed in Medetai.

"Well, thank you for the breaking news!" said Iinaka sarcastically.

"Will you two knock it off?" admonished Tamashii. "Iinaka, you said that On'ai and Waraku were in this building, no? So, are we gonna help them, or are we gonna stand here and complain all night and not get anything accomplished?"

"Do I have a vote?" asked Medetai.

Rolling her eyes, Tamashii grounded out, "Yes, Medetai, you do."

"I vote not to help On'ai and Waraku! I never wanted to in the first place after what they did to us last month!"

"Then, why did you come with us?" asked Iinaka in exasperation.

"Because spying on On'ai and Waraku means destroying a demon! We have a duty to protect the university, not helping some hotshots who don't want us interfering with their so-called mission! It just so happens that a demon is inside the same building along with the next crystal!"

"So, you're saying that you'd rather fight demons and let two members from our own army take on a dangerous task when you know it could cost them their lives?" asked Tamashii.

"Wouldn't you?" challenged Medetai.

Narrowing her eyes, Tamashii slowly approached Medetai and hissed, "You know, the more that I think of it, the more I'm starting to believe you've taken a few pointers from Shi these last few weeks! I know he has a hard time trusting people who rub him the wrong way, but you're not supposed to be like him! You can't be! You're Medetai, the Angelic Guardian of Joy!

"And you!" she continued as she turned her attention to Iinaka. "You're a loving and forgiving Angelic Guardian! You hold no room in your heart for hatred, but all I'm seeing right now is just that!"

"That's not true!" argued Iinaka. "I don't hate them!"

"You were agreeing with Medetai and the others not too long ago!"

"That was then! I had a change of heart!"

"Really? Is that why you got us into this mess?" shot back Tamashii.

Iinaka felt the blood in her veins still its gentle flow, and she looked down at her feet to hide the shame that was in her eyes. "No. Tonight has nothing to do with my decision. I've changed my mind because I don't believe we're doing the right thing by letting On'ai and Waraku fend for themselves," she whispered, hoping that Tamashii would not hear the hidden desperation to keep Waraku safe in her voice.

"No, we're not," agreed Tamashii. "You do know that sooner or later, we're all gonna have to set our differences aside when we come together at the line of battle against Myoujou's army, right?"

"Yes."

"So, why not start now?"

"But, Tamashii, what will Shi—" began Medetai.

"I don't want to hear it, Medetai!" interrupted Tamashii. "I'm the leader of the group, not Shi! His grudge against On'ai and Waraku has our team divided, and I refuse let our insecurities influence each other!

"Are you really afraid that Shinmei is gonna replace us because we're not as great as On'ai and Waraku appear to be? We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and we need to embrace them so we can grow stronger together! Will you guys please give them a chance?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Medetai shook her head and firmly replied, "Absolutely not! You and Iinaka can try and be friends with those jerks, but my decision is final."

"Come on, Medetai!" begged Iinaka.

"I mean it! Why should I waste my time on them if they don't want to waste theirs on us?"

Tamashii opened her mouth to admonish Medetai for her cold behavior, but the words never escaped her lips as they heard a body being thrown against the door to the third floor above them. They climbed to the nearest landing where they found an imprint in the metalwork. "What on earth is going on up there?" asked Iinaka.

"I'm afraid we're about to find out," replied Tamashii.

She threw open the door and found On'ai riding on the back of a black horse like a cowboy corralling an angry bull at a rodeo. The horse threw him off with a powerful buck and looked down at the fallen Angelic Guardian with a snort, only to reveal its true identity to the trio.

"Oh my!" gasped Iinaka. "First, a harpy… and now, a centaur!"

"This is just getting weirder every day!" breathed Medetai.

The centaur quickly whipped his dark head at the three Angelic Guardians and stood on his hind legs, letting out a loud whinny of anger. He lowered his body down and galloped to the other end of the hallway where Waraku was preparing to make her move.

Tamashii rushed to On'ai's side, and she felt him wince in pain as she placed her hand on his sore hipbone to help him stand up. "Are you okay?" she asked.

On'ai narrowed his eyes and yanked his hand out of her grasp. "I was until you interfered!" he spat.

Tamashii was appalled by his cold words, but Medetai laid her right hand on Tamashii's shoulder and seethed, "Forget him, Tamashii! I told you it would be a waste of time trying to help him!"

Suddenly, they heard Waraku's cry for help, and On'ai screamed out to her, "Hang in there, Waraku! I'm coming!"

He took a step forward but fell to his knees as his injury intensified from his slight movement. "Fuck!" he cursed. "I can't let that beast hurt Waraku!"

"Then, let us help!" pleaded Tamashii.

"No! I can do it myself! You stay out of this, Tamashii! You've already caused enough trouble as it is!"

"But you're hurt!"

"I told you to stay out of this!"

"But she's part of your team! Don't you even care about her safety?"

"Waraku doesn't need you to come to her rescue! She's my responsibility, not yours! You keep your nose out of our business if you know what's good for you!"

Tamashii said nothing as she fumed to herself, but before anybody could stop her, she shoved On'ai out of the way and followed the centaur's path with Medetai and Iinaka trailing behind her. On'ai watched the trio disappear into the distance and shook his head. "They're gonna get themselves killed for being so stupid!" he said aloud.

Waraku created a light blue energy ball in her right palm, but the centaur broke her concentration as he loomed over her and kicked her in the chin with his heavy right roof. She slid against the floor and barely lifted her head to see the centaur coming toward her with the intention to trample her to death. Just as he prepared to strike her, a black shadow hurled itself into his side, and he bucked his aggressor out of the way.

"Damn!" gasped Shi as he pulled himself onto his feet. "That's one strong horse!"

"Let me see if I can take care of this wild stallion!" said Inochi.

He summoned his lyre into his hands and began to play his favorite melody to lure the centaur into a trance, but the creature turned around and knocked the instrument out of his hands with his rear hooves. "What the fuck?" he exclaimed.

"He must have a high resistance to your magic!" said Shi.

"I would guess so!"

"Guys!" called Tamashii from down the hall.

"Well, it's about time you showed up!" said Inochi as he nursed his sore wrist. "What took you so long?"

"A little altercation with On'ai," snorted Medetai. "Are you okay?"

"We'll be fine," assured Shi, "but that horse is just too much for us to handle."

"I'll be the judge of that. Love Fire!" cried out Iinaka.

The centaur began to charge after her, but flames danced around him as they trapped him inside a heart-shaped fiery vortex. Whinnying in fear, he pranced around to find an escape without burning his lower half, but his frantic movements caused the fire to grow and lessen his chance of survival. He could see Iinaka smirking triumphantly through the flames, and he sneered at her in return.

"Now, let's turn this horse into glue!" said Medetai as pointed her right index finger at the centaur. "Twinkle Star Beam!"

A ray of stars collided with the centaur and forced him to fall onto his left side. Although he had human arms for support, he did not have the strength to lift his heavy body off of the floor. He instead laid there motionless, waiting for his eternal doom.

"I think it's time to put him out of his misery, don't you agree?" asked Medetai to Tamashii.

"I think so too," agreed Tamashii, summoning her crossbow and arrow into her hands. "Fateful Sealing!"

The centaur raised his head and watched an arrow of pure gold break through the vortex at an incredible speed. The sharp tip pierced his stomach, and with a final whinny, he felt a combination of light and fire consuming his body. The flames magically disappeared, and all that was left of the centaur was a pile of dust.

Shi turned to the trio with a smile said to them softly, "Thanks for saving our ass."

"Not a problem," replied Medetai. "But seriously, what you were two thinking going up against a centaur without us? You could have been killed!"

"We heard somebody screaming for help, but we didn't know who until we saw the centaur attacking Waraku," replied Shi begrudgingly. "Had we known it was her, we would have left her alone."

"So, where is she?" asked Iinaka.

Shi and Inochi looked at each out for an answer, but just as they began to speak, a loud noise boomed across the hall and startled the Angelic Guardians. "What was that?" asked Inochi.

"Probably On'ai and Waraku!" answered Tamashii. "We better check it out!"

Medosa shot a blast of dark energy into On'ai's chest and forced him to sandwich Waraku against the wall behind them. The two Angelic Guardians groaned and struggled to stand up, but Medosa continued to assault them mercilessly until they had lost the will to rise again.

On'ai sneered at her and growled, "You won't get away with this!"

Medosa smirked under her hood and held out her right palm to reveal a light green crystal that she had extracted from behind the walls. "I believe I already have," she purred. "I'm afraid you lose again, Guardians."

Her ears perked at the sound of footprints coming toward her, and she saw Tamashii and her friends running in the distance to aid On'ai and Waraku. "Hmph! Looks like I've overstayed my visit," she snorted as she reached down to collect her python.

In a blink of an eye, she disappeared into thin air and left the two groups alone, but what Tamashii felt when she saw On'ai and Waraku beaten and badly bruised on the floor was not sympathy but fear. They glared at her with unforgiving eyes as they pulled themselves up onto their feet. "I thought we told you to keep your nose out of our business!" snarled On'ai. "We had everything under control—"

"Oh really? It didn't seem like that when we showed up!" retorted Medetai. "You and Waraku were getting the shit beaten out of you by that centaur!"

"But because of your pathetic attempt to help us, we lost another crystal! This is why we can never work with each other! You've proven to be a distraction to us on more than one occasion, and we can't afford to be distracted from what we came here to do! So, leave us the fuck alone, and stay out of our mission!"

"If I were any of you, I'd do what he says!" added Waraku. "The sooner we accomplish this mission, the sooner you can have this shithole of a university all to yourselves again! Isn't that what you want?"

She turned to the elevator next to her and pressed the button to go down to the first floor. The silver doors opened, and the duo stepped inside the compartment car, closing the doors behind them with a push of another button. As the car began to move, she looked at her partner from the corner of her right eye and said, "Time's running out, and you still need to tell her the truth."

"I know," sighed On'ai. "I'm just waiting for the right time to come."

"And when will that be?"

On'ai kept his gaze on his reflection in the door as he replied, "Soon. Very soon."

Back on the third floor, Shi crossed his arms as he looked down at Tamashii in disapproval. Medetai had informed him of Tamashii's decision to help On'ai and Waraku, and he felt every vein in his body bursting with rage. "How dare you to think of such thing!" he hissed. "I can't believe you, Tamashii! I thought we told you to let them be!"

"I can't, Shi!" shot back Tamashii. "I can't let a fellow Angelic Guardian put his life in danger like that! On'ai and Waraku almost died tonight! I had to do something, and, apparently, you did too!"

"I didn't mean to spare Waraku's life! She just happened to be in the crossfire!" snapped Shi. "But in case you've forgotten, she also managed to escape when we weren't looking! She didn't thank us or anything! She left us with the centaur for that damn crystal! That's all she cares about! I mean you heard what she called this place, right? A shithole of a university! Why should I work with someone like that?

"On'ai and Waraku may be one of us, but that's all they'll ever be! Take it or leave it, Tamashii, but I'm done with them! I'm done with them for good!"

He silently excused himself out the door to the staircase with Medetai and Inochi following behind him. Iinaka was the last of the quartet, and she looked back at Tamashii with a small sympathetic frown before the door latched itself shut behind her.

Tamashii fell to her knees and lowered her head to cry. "But this can't be happening!" she sniffled. "It just can't!"


	11. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Beronika Meets Her Match –

A Fateful Encounter!

The following week in her English Literature class, Rizu and her classmates watched Dr. Cook-Ikeda write the last of her notes on the dry-erase board. A soft sigh fell on her lips, and she looked up at the wall clock to notice that it was seventeen minutes until two o'clock with two minutes of class time to spare.

Many students around her began to gathering their belongings in silence while Dr. Cook-Ikeda still had her back turned to them, but even the slightest movement did not go unnoticed by their cold professor. "Before you even think about running out that door, I just want to remind you of your midterm exam that you'll be taking a week from Thursday," she said firmly.

She ignored the sound of her students groaning at the announcement of their midterm, and with a slight smirk, she snapped the red cap over the corresponding marker and reached for the thick stack of packets that were on the desk. "Don't forget to do tonight's assignment in addition to your study guides," she added as she handed each student a packet. "We will first continue our discussion over Poe on Thursday, and then I will answer any questions that you may have about the test _if_ time permits next Tuesday. Remember, I won't answer every question that is in your study guide, but if you have made some kind of an attempt to complete your packet, then I'll be more than willing to help you."

"Yes, _sensei_," replied the class in unison.

Rizu shuddered as she felt Dr. Cook-Ikeda's presence looming over her desk, but just as she reached to take the packet from her professor's hand, her brown eyes met a pair of black orbs that were staring back at her without a trace of emotion. "And, Miss Hikarino, please stay after class. I would like to discuss a few things with you," said Dr. Cook-Ikeda.

Rizu inwardly cringed, but she felt Dr. Cook-Ikeda releasing her hold on her study guide and dutifully, albeit begrudgingly, answered under her breath, "Yes, _sensei_."

Everyone in the room soon heard the door to the classroom next to theirs swing open, and Dr. Cook-Ikeda had to raise her voice over the noise of chairs being scooted across the floor to get her students' attention. "Remember to do your homework _and_ your study guide!" she called.

Rising from her desk, Rizu draped her messenger bag over her body and approached the black desk at the front of the classroom where Dr. Cook-Ikeda was preparing to leave for her office. "You wanted to see me, _sensei_?" she inquired.

"Yes, Miss Hikarino," replied Dr. Cook-Ikeda stiffly. She lowered her spectacles and looked at Rizu once again with emotionless black eyes. "I've noticed your grades are meeting neither my expectations nor those of the department," she began.

"They haven't?" asked Rizu.

"Your overall performance has left me and several of my colleagues feeling extremely disappointed in you," continued Dr. Cook-Ikeda. "I understand that you left the education field because your knowledge about the English culture was insufficient for you to move onto the next level of teaching, and you chose to continue your English studies by taking on a departmental degree. But even in our department, we know that Japan wants the elite students in the work force. Every year, we are asked to send letters of recommendation for our graduates, letters of both good _and_ bad recommendations. Some of those letters helped our star students get a job right out of university, and, then, there are letters that cost others that golden opportunity because of their grades and their overall evaluation within the department.

"I will tell it to you straight, Miss Hikarino: you are the worst student I have seen this year. You don't know your English, and, yet, you've somehow made it through the basic and intermediate levels. I don't know how you did it, but luck can only last for so long. Now, if I were you, I would consider dropping out of this class after midterm and retake all those classes until you're fit to be in my classroom."

"I can't be that bad!" protested Rizu. "I've studied my ass off, and I've done all my assignments!"

"But do you know your material?" challenged Dr. Cook-Ikeda.

"Sorta."

"'Sorta' doesn't count, Miss Hikarino, and from what I remember of your homework, red marks don't either. And to think you picked Poe as your topic for your term paper! Poe, one of the most complex poets and writers in English Literature! I'm greatly worried about reading your research, and I'm not sure if I even want to read it at all! You've failed every assignment during this unit, and you want to write about Poe?"

"Would you prefer if I picked another topic?" squeaked Rizu.

"I would prefer that you either focus on your studies or leave this class during the next dropout period," replied Dr. Cook-Ikeda. "I don't tolerate incompetence, and I never will. You're a poor excuse of a future translator, Miss Hikarino, and you certainly don't deserve a degree in English. Now, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, _sensei._"

"Good. You're dismissed."

Rizu walked out of the Kenji Oukan Building with her head down and tears rolling down her cheeks. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she trudged through the courtyard of the quad and bypassed the Pillar Garden. She caught a glimpse of the five tall monuments standing proudly on the other side of the green hedges, and she sadly looked at them. _I'm a complete failure,_ she thought. _I came to this school to prepare myself for a good career in the future, but I can't perfect what I thought I was supposed to be. What do I do now?_

She stopped along the street that ran past the Student Center and looked both ways for traffic before she continued her trek to the small food court for a late lunch. Just as she opened the glass door at the main entrance, she saw a certain brunette playing the virtual dance game in the arcade room across the hall. _Why am I not surprised she'd be here?_ she mused with a weak smile.

She flopped down into an empty race car seat off to the side and watched Beronika close her first song with a high rating. After the music stopped, Beronika stepped down from the metal platform to catch her breath. "What a workout!" she wheezed.

"I take it Jeison asked you for a rematch?" asked Rizu.

"You'd think he'd learn his lesson by now," said Beronika.

"That man never gives up, does he?"

"Not a chance. So, what's up with you?"

"Not much," replied Rizu glumly. Propping her elbows on her knees, she rested her cheeks against her fists and added, "I'm just ready to give up."

"What's wrong?" asked Beronika.

"Have you ever had a professor who ripped you apart and told you that you wouldn't amount to anything?"

"Can't say that I have," answered Beronika. "Is that why you're upset?"

Rizu nodded her head in reply. "I just can't seem to please her no matter how hard I try! She even told me that she would like to see me drop out of the class after midterms!"

"That was pretty rude of her to say that! What professor would have the nerve to say such a thing?"

"Mine," snorted Rizu. "She's the toughest professor in the department, and she certainly knows how to destroy your self-esteem."

"Who is she?"

"Dr. Cook-Ikeda."

Beronika cringed as the name fell onto her ears. "No wonder you're having a hard time with her!" she said. "Raura had that witch in her English 102 class last fall, and she barely made it out of that class alive! How did you end up with her?"

"She was the only professor assigned to teach English Literature 402," said Rizu.

"Couldn't you have waited until the winter to take the class?"

"I'm not planning to take 401."

"What's the difference? They're both English Literature courses!"

"But they also highlight different English-speaking countries. 401 is English Literature of England, and 402 is English Literature of America. Try and guess which of the two classes would be the hardest for me to pass! 401 covers old English language!"

"And 402 doesn't?"

"America isn't even four hundred years old!" exclaimed Rizu. "The language is easier for me to comprehend."

"Well, of course it would be! American English is what we've been taught since we were kids!" said Beronika. "So what if English isn't your strongest suit? You only need to pass the class so you can get your credit and graduate. After that, no more Dr. Cook-Ikeda!"

"But what about after I graduate? What if I don't get a job because I'm not good enough to translate?"

"Rizu, you worry too much!" giggled Beronika. "You still have another school year ahead of you, and, besides, that's just an opinion of one professor! One out of so many in your department! You'll be fine!"

"Do you think so?"

"I know so. Now, why don't you come up here and make me break into a sweat."

"You know I suck at this game!" whined Rizu.

"Come on, Rizu! It's not any fun when you're playing alone!"

"You know why you're playing alone, B? Because nobody wants to go up against the girl who is still holding the school record! What you really is need a challenge, someone who can put you in your place!"

"I doubt there's anybody here that can do that," argued Beronika.

"I beg to differ."

Rizu and Beronika turned to doorway to the arcade room and felt their mouths go dry. There standing at the entrance with his arms crossed was the mysterious young man they had seen with Ami at the pizzeria. He looked at them with a glint of amusement dancing in his green eyes as he added, "I'm quite a fan of the game myself."

Beronika leaned over and whispered into Rizu's ear, "Is that your high school crush! He's hot!"

"Shut up!" hissed Rizu. "I'm not sure if he's even the same guy! And aren't you crushing on Jeison?"

"Hey, you had three crushes going on at the same time last year, and only one of them came close to being your boyfriend! So, you've got no right to tell me how many guys I can drool over!"

"That's quite all right," chuckled the young man. "I'm actually flattered at the moment."

"Oh?" asked Beronika.

"It's not every day I get such a compliment from an attractive woman."

"You can't be serious! Surely you must have made some girls swoon at your feet by now!"

"I have a few times in the past but not since my arrival to Oukan University," replied the young man with a small smile. "Now, what's this I was hearing about you needing a challenge?"

Beronika looked over his slim figure for a moment and then back at his handsome face in disbelief. "You don't look like someone who's played this game more than five times in his life."

"Now, don't you think that's a little harsh to say?" asked the young man mockingly. "I'll have you know that you don't need to play every week to master the technique."

"And I'm sure you did after the first time."

"Actually, it was the second time. I was only half of a master when I first tried it out."

"I'd like to see this so-called mastery of yours as long as you're not afraid to lose to a girl," challenged Beronika.

"Fine."

He slid his black overcoat off of his shoulders and gave it and his messenger bag to Rizu. "Watch them for me," he said to her.

Rizu could only nod her head and felt a surge of excitement rushing through her blood at the thought of holding the overcoat of that could have possibly belonged to Raian Daishizenno himself in her hands. _I can't believe he actually took the bait,_ she said to herself as she watched him insert a coin into the machine to activate the second player's dance pad.

He jumped onto the metal surface and gave Beronika a playful, flirty smirk. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"I've been ready," returned Beronika.

As she moved her foot to the top right corner of her dance pad to select the next song, the main menu appeared on the screen, and she noticed that her rival had restarted the game. "What the hell was that for?" she demanded. "Why did you put us back at the beginning?"

"I want to challenge you in all three rounds," replied the young man. "We'll dance for best of three, but if we draw a tie, we'll move to the final round. Deal?"

"Deal, but you've gotta let me choose the next song."

"Fair enough."

Using the sole of his right shoe, he selected a moderately fast song to start the game as a warmup. The two competitors stood on their dance pads with their right legs slightly moving to the beat, but when their arrows scrolled from the bottom of the screen toward the top, they suddenly broke out of their idleness and moved their feet all over the platform.

Rizu paid no attention to their scores and combos all throughout the first round. Her eyes had lingered over to Beronika's challenger just seconds after they began dancing, and she felt her heart pumping with a strong, familiar desire that almost reminded her of her initial attraction to Robu. _He can't be Raian,_ she thought. _He just can't!_ _There's no way that's him! Raian would have avoided me like the plague! So, why I'm being drawn to him all of a sudden? Have I lied to myself after all these years? Have I yet to get over him?_

She was startled out of her daze when she heard Beronika complaining about the final score. "That was a cheap shot! I had you beat! I know I did!" she whined.

"Why are you so upset?" chuckled the young man. "That was just the first round. You still have another one to redeem yourself, remember? And since you're picking out the song for this next round, you'll have an advantage over me."

"And what's that?" asked Beronika.

"I might not be much of a challenge to you if I can't dance to a new song."

"Then, let's hope you won't know this one."

She picked out one of her favorite tunes from the playlist and kept her level of difficulty set on Advanced. _This is gonna be a piece of cake,_ she mused with glee. _I've danced to this song so many times I can do this with my eyes closed!_

The song abruptly began without an introduction, which surprised her competitor when he saw the arrows moving toward the top of the screen at a fast rate. Rizu watched him struggle to catch up with Beronika, but she knew that her old roommate had won the round from the start. _B just had to pick out her favorite warmup song,_ she thought. _I bet she did it just to make him lose too._

Beronika watched the young man from the corner of his eye and noticed how much lower his score was compared to the first round. He was gathering more O.K.'s instead of Good's and Perfect's, and his combo streaks were not enough to put him in the lead. "Didn't you insinuate that you were good at this?" she jested.

"Well, I did allow you to pick a song, especially one that I'm very unfamiliar with," he confessed.

The music stopped at the sound of their feet landing hard on the dance pad. The screen then shifted to the final grades of the second round: an A for Beronika and a C for her challenger.

"I can see why you hold the school record," remarked the young man. "I don't know anybody who has great skills like you and can ace a song at Advanced."

"Being a dancer has its perks," said Beronika dismissively.

"Well, don't think for one minute I'm gonna let you slip by me again."

"I don't expect you to. Now, pick a song that we both can dance to."

"You got it."

Rizu watched the duo decide which song they wanted to play until she heard her cell phone alerting her in the outside pocket of her messenger bag. Zipping the compartment open, she pulled out the mobile device and noticed Jeison's number flashing on the outer screen. "Shit!" she said.

"What is it?" asked Beronika.

"It's Jeison!"

"Tell him I'll meet him in a few minutes!"

"All right," said Rizu before she left the arcade room to answer the phone call in private.

As he snuck a glimpse of Rizu's retreating form, the young man then turned to Beronika and asked, "So, you've got a boyfriend?"

Beronika narrowed her eyes at him and let out a huff of irritation. "No! He's just a friend who likes me very much, and he annoys me every time he hits on me!" she answered defensively.

"Is that all? I think you like him."

"Just pick the damn song!" growled Beronika.

Stepping into the hallway, Rizu pressed the "SEND" button on her keypad and answered, _"Moshi moshi."_

"Rizu, have you seen Beronika?" asked Jeison on the other line as he waited impatiently outside the pizzeria on a cast-iron bench. "She was supposed to meet up with me for lunch a few minutes ago!"

"She's kinda busy right now."

"What's she doing?"

"She's about to start the final round of that virtual dance game in the Student Center."

"Still warming up for our rematch, eh? Who's with her? Megu? Deibiddo?"

"Neither. It's that guy we saw at the pizzeria with Ami a while ago. You know, the one who looks a lot like my old high school crush!"

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Jeison. "Dude, that guy is nuts! He has no idea how good of a dancer B is with that game! My money is on her!"

"I wouldn't count your chickens quite yet," warned Rizu as she watched the tight match from the entrance. "They're doing a tiebreaker right now. He beat Beronika in the first round, but she got her revenge in the second. They seem to be evenly matched."

"Rizu, the only way that kid is gonna win is if B fucks up big time, and you and I have never seen her play as badly as you and Megu together. Seriously, what are the odds of her losing to a complete stranger?"

Before Rizu could answer Jeison's question, Beronika's right foot suddenly hooked around her left ankle and caused her to fall hard onto her side. On her side of the screen, her character stopped moving, and she was earning more Boo's faster than Rizu could process. The screen shifted a few seconds later with the word "FAILED" on the right half and the letter B over the second player's default character.

Rizu was speechless when she saw the final score in the middle of the two columns. Beronika Hoshino was no longer the reigning champion of the school's virtual dance game competition.

"Rizu? Rizu, what's going on?" asked Jeison.

"I'll have B call you back," she replied before she shut her cell phone and rushed into the arcade room to help Beronika onto her feet.

Beronika steadied herself with the railing behind the platform and looked down at her bruised hip. "That's gonna leave a nasty mark in the morning," she commented to herself.

"B, are you okay?" asked Rizu.

"I'll be fine," assured Beronika. "Just a nasty fall."

"I'd say so. Well, I guess that's the end of it, huh?"

"It was nice being on top while it lasted."

She lowered her gaze to hide the disappointment in her eyes from Rizu's line of vision, and with a heavy sigh, she grabbed her gym bag and joined Rizu at the doorway. She then turned to her with a sad smile playing on her lips and added, "I guess it was time for me to move on. You can't win them all, can you?"

"No, you can't," said Rizu softly. "Are you gonna be okay going to the Village like that?"

"Yeah, although I'm not too certain about the walk to the suites. I might have to ask Jeison to give me a lift if I'm still in pain."

"Just be careful.

"Thanks, Rizu."

As she started to pull her friend into a parting hug, Beronika noticed the newest champion approaching them with his overcoat draped over his right shoulder and his messenger bag hanging beneath it. "Well, I must say that you gave me a run for my money," he said. "Had you not taken that fall at the end, you probably would have beaten me at my own game."

"I'm sorry about that," apologized Beronika. "I didn't mean to stop in the middle of the song."

"It's okay. Shit like that happens all the time."

Extending out his right hand, he added, "I don't recall introducing myself. The name's Raian Daishizenno."

It took Rizu all the strength she had to keep herself from fainting, and she felt her heart pounding against her chest as his named ran through her head like a mantra. _Shinmei, help me,_ she thought.

"Beronika Hoshino," greeted Beronika in return.

She looked over to the two silver stars that were pinned above the left pocket of his white school shirt, which indicated to her that he was a transfer student. "Where did you attend last year?" she inquired.

"Tokyo University. I decided to switch schools for personal reason, and Oukan University is closer to my hometown," replied Raian.

_Another student from Tokyo,_ pondered Rizu as an image of Ami flashed in her mind. _It makes sense why we saw Ami and Raian together that night. They must have been classmates at one point, but why did they come to Oukan at the same time? I mean what's so special about us? We're not a prestigious school like Tokyo!_

"And who's this friend of yours that stared at me all during our little dance-off?" asked Raian playfully.

Rizu suddenly felt guilty for oogling him when she thought he was not looking, but Beronika came to her rescue and answered, "This is my old roommate Rizu Hikarino, and the only reason why I can think she was staring at you was because you looked very familiar to her."

"How so?"

"We've seen you around the campus with another friend of ours, and Rizu here said something about how you remind her of an old high school crush of three years!"

"B, you weren't supposed to tell him that!" hissed Rizu sharply.

"I'm sorry!" said Beronika.

Raian laughed and dismissed the tension that was lingering in the air with a gentle wave of his hand. "It's okay," he chuckled, "but I have to admit that Rizu reminds me of a girl that I once knew from back home."

"I do?" asked Rizu.

"Yeah, and I also have a gut feeling your name really isn't Rizu either. Was that a nickname you picked up after graduation?"

Rizu could feel a swarm of butterflies fluttering around her stomach in every possible direction, and she gripped onto the strap of her messenger bag tighter than she had anticipated. It was only a matter of time before Raian took hold of the advantage to embarrass her in front of Beronika like his friends did years ago. Turning on her heels, she called to Beronika as she ran out of the Student Center, "Got to go! B, have a great time with Jeison, and give him my regards! Bye!"

Beronika stared at Rizu's back in confusion and said to Raian, "I don't know what's gotten into her."

"I'd say you brought out some skeletons from her closet," replied Raian.

He dropped his messenger bag at his feet for a moment to slip into his overcoat. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Beronika," he added. "I hope to see you again one day. Who knows? Maybe we can do a rematch in the future."

"I'd like that," said Beronika.

"Good."

Raian gave her a curt nod before he exited the arcade room and followed Rizu's path out of the building. As soon as he was far away out of earshot, Beronika found herself muttering under her breath, "And I thought you were crazy after all this time, Rizu."

Rizu had just crossed the intersection at the scramble light past the quad and the music instruction building when she heard Raian calling out to her from behind, "Erizabesu, wait up!"

She looked over her shoulder hoping that Raian was not following her, but she frowned as she saw him on her trail and quickened her pace to avoid him. "Leave me alone!" she said.

"What did I do? What's going on that's gotten you so ticked off at me? Why did you leave like that?"

"It's pretty fucking obvious that you were about to tease me right in front of my friend!" snapped Rizu as she whirled around to face him.

"Tease you about what?" asked Raian.

"That I liked you for so long!"

"Are you nuts?" cried Raian. "Why would I want to tease you about _that_?"

Rizu felt the strap of her messenger bag begin to slide off of her right shoulder as she relaxed her body against the tension that was building up inside her. Her jaw dropped in disbelief, and she asked, "You wouldn't?"

"No!" snorted Raian. "Look, Erizabesu—"

"Rizu."

"Rizu, I was actually flattered with your strange interest in me, but I didn't want to tell you because it would have caused a lot of problems between us."

"You had a girlfriend," mumbled Rizu.

"Yes, I did, but you also know that it didn't work out in the end either," continued Raian. "The main reason why I couldn't tell you was because of our reputations with the school. I was the rich doctor's son who was invited to all those parties, and you were the geeky teacher's pet! You were the ideal honors student of Roganu!"

"So, you were more concerned about your reputation, huh?" sneered Rizu.

"I was also worried about yours! Think about it, Rizu: if our classmates got wind about us being an item, you wouldn't believe the kind of shit they'd throw at you. You thought it was bad then, it would have been ten times worse!"

"Whatever, Raian! You were the guy that everyone liked!"

Raian frowned at Rizu and narrowed his green eyes. "Not _everyone_ liked me," he said softly as he pushed her aside and began to walk back to their residence complex alone.

"But that's impossible! You were popular!" argued Rizu.

"Popularity doesn't mean anything! It's just a fucking mind game people play with other people! They'll make you think you're king of the world as long as you have the money and the good looks, but you'll soon find out in the end that the majority of them only liked you for just that! When you've got nothing left, that's when you know they were never your friends to begin with!"

"But you got along so well with the students!"

"I only got along with them because they got along with me first!" spat Raian.

"And what about your friends? Whatever happened to them?"

Raian lowered his gaze and answered, "We grew apart after graduation. When Papa decided to retire from his practice in Roganu and I enrolled at Tokyo University, we packed up and moved to Tokyo to start over again. Some of my friends went to other schools across the country and a few stayed home, but no matter where we were, we lost contact with each other after a while."

"You can't be serious! All of them?"

"Every single one of them! One's in Osaka learning how to film movies; another's in Koganei studying education; my old roommate is still in Tokyo but with a new roommate, and the rest of the gang is stuck in Roganu!"

"I don't get it. Why don't you talk to the ones at home anymore?"

"Because they're serving time for getting caught," replied Raian. "I've always wondered how long it would take for them to come clean considering their history with hard drugs."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. They deserved what was coming to them after all these years," he snorted. "So, now do you understand why I didn't do anything to help you with your situation? If you got involved with me, you would have only been teased more."

"That's not true!" said Rizu.

"Believe me, I know that you were bullied by almost every student for who you were, but even I have feelings and I got hurt many times when you weren't looking at me."

_Sixteen-year-old Raian Daishizenno turned the black dial to the last number of his locker combination during the ten-minute passing period that he used to swap his morning textbooks for his afternoon set before he had to return to his assigned classroom. He kept his back turned to most of the students who were loitering around in the hallway and ignored those who walked behind him and gave him a dirty look from the corner of their eyes._

_ Just as he reached for his Chemistry I book in his left arm to exchange it for the Grammar textbook that was lying on the top shelf of his locker, an unknown student threw at him a rolled up piece of paper in the shape of a cannabis joint. He unrolled it to reveal a message, which read:_

"Go back to your garden, dopehead. Your cannabis isn't needed here."

_ He glanced over his right shoulder and noticed a group of preppy classmates with disgusted looks on their faces before they turned away and continued with their conversation. "What a _baka,_" he heard one girl say out loud. "He won't get very far if he keeps smoking his brain away."_

_ "He'll just live off of his papa's money like he usually does," snickered a football player. "I'm sure he won't have a problem getting some help for university."_

_ "That is if he ever gets into university!" chortled another boy._

_ They laughed to themselves as they shut their locker doors and walked to their classrooms, but Raian crumpled the paper in his hands and tossed the small white ball into the bottom of his locker where it landed on top of a growing pile of other discarded messages. Grabbing his Grammar book, he slammed his locker with a loud bang over the sound of the minute bell warning and walked through the empty hallway to his classroom for the remainder of the afternoon._

"The bullying didn't end until we all graduated from high school and everyone moved on with their lives," concluded Raian solemnly. "I still feel hurt by their behavior every time I think about it, but there's nothing I can do now. What's done is done."

"Wow!" murmured Rizu quietly. "I didn't know! I really thought—"

"That I was accepted by everyone at that hellhole?" finished Raian. "I was only accepted by a small group of stoners who understood me, but I came to realize after I left Roganu that they weren't really my friends. They had nothing to do with me unless I had a bag of cannabis on hand."

"I guess that being a doctor's kid tends to have some drawbacks with the student body," said Rizu.

"Not all D.K.'s are bad," assured Raian, "although I did present myself in a way that ended up giving me a bad reputation around town."

Rizu placed a comforting hand on his left shoulder and said to him gently, "You know, it's never too late to have a fresh, clean start. Your friends won't bother you anymore and ask you for drugs or money, but there are people here that are willing to be a friend to you if you let them. I know I would, and so would Beronika."

Raian looked down at her and replied with a faint smile, "Thank you, Rizu."

"It's nothing," said Rizu.

As they crossed the street outside the all-women's residence complex, she then asked, "So, what do you want to do with your life?"

"I want to go into art," replied Raian. "I've always had a knack at drawing and interpreting paintings. I'm just so into it."

"But that's a tough career! What if you can't get started?"

"That's up to Jā to decide."

"Jā?" asked Rizu. "Who's Jā?"

Raian suddenly stopped in his tracks before he answered, "He's an old friend of mine. I've sought for his comfort through my suffering for many years, and he's never let me down once. He's the only true friend I've got left."

He resumed his trek to his assigned hall but without Rizu at his side. She watched him walk down the sidewalk until he disappeared behind the row of tall bushes in the parking lot outside her complex. Feeling confused by his strange response, she bit down on her lower lip and asked aloud to herself, "But who is Jā?"


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Two Names, One Kami – Two Worlds Collide!

As the sun began to set beyond the School of Education, Rizu slipped into her Oukan hoodie jacket and grabbed her set of keys that were lying on her desk. "I'll be back soon," she announced to Keitorin. "I'm gonna walk down to the Village to grab some food. I'll be back soon."

"Okay," said Keitorin, though her gaze never left her computer screen.

Rizu took the stairs along the east wall of her floor and used the rear entrance that led to the parking lot behind her complex. As she walked toward her convertible, she spotted Raian sitting alone beneath a cherry blossom tree with glassy eyes and a dazed expression on his face, and between his fingers was a thin, white object that he was rolling left to right.

She looked down at the driver's door for a moment and then back at Raian once more. She was not sure if he was waiting for someone or if he just simply wanted company, hers in particular, but she felt the urge to put dinner aside for a while and join him beneath the fading pink petals to be overwhelming, and she let go of the black handle before she crossed the parking lot to join him in the grass.

Raian turned his head to see Rizu approaching him with her hands stuffed inside the front pockets of her hoodie. He abruptly stopped rolling the white stick and looked up at Rizu with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I saw you were sitting here by yourself, and I thought you'd like to have some company," replied Rizu.

"Promise me you won't tell _anyone_ what you're about to see?"

Rizu shrugged her shoulders and said nonchalantly, "I don't think it's a crime to smoke a cigarette in public."

Raian let out a hearty laugh and held out the stick in his right hand for her to see. "This isn't a cigarette, Rizu. There's no nicotine," he said. "Smell it for yourself."

Rizu took the stick and brought it to her nose. Deeply inhaling the grounded tip, she began to cough and quickly handed it back to Raian as tears formed in her eyes. "Fuck!" she cursed in between coughs. "What is that shit?"

"I thought you would have figured it out by now," chuckled Raian. "It's cannabis."

"Could you at least warn me next time before I start sniffing it again?" asked Rizu, reaching up to dry her eyes with the back of her hands. "Kirisuto, Raian, you nearly killed me!"

Raian smirked to himself and stuck one end of the joint between his lips as he reached into his khaki cargo shorts for his cigarette lighter. He kept the tip near the flame until the thin paper started to smolder, followed by a strange, horrendous stench that lingered into the open air. Taking a long drag, he smiled at Rizu with a grin that reminded her greatly of the Cheshire Cat, and he offered her the empty space next to him. "Come, sit down," he said. "I don't bite."

"It's nothing against you personally, but I don't want to go back to my room smelling like I was rolling in the dumpster," drawled Rizu.

"It's not the smell you need to worry about; it's inhaling the toxins," assured Raian. "It's like second-hand smoking, you know? You might feel a little high if you breathe it all in at once, but it's only half as dangerous as smoking the real stuff. Now, will you please stop standing around like that and just sit down? You look like you're about to go crazy."

"Sorry," apologized Rizu. "I was debating if I want to grab dinner in the Village now or later."

"So, make up your fucking mind! I don't care what you do as long as you do it! Indecisiveness is a major turn-off to me!"

"Are you always this cranky when you smoke?" asked Rizu snidely.

"Are you always this snarky when you can't make a decision?" shot back Raian.

Rizu opened her mouth to argue, but she soon found herself at a loss for words. She instead flopped down next to him with a huff of irritation and crossed her arms over her chest. "I am _not_ snarky!" she snapped. "I just get flustered easily!"

"So, does this mean I'm now more important to you than dinner?" teased Raian.

Blushing profusely in embarrassment, Rizu contorted her face into a scowl and growled, "Shut up."

Raian laughed as he inhaled another puff into his lungs. "I don't mean to make you all upset with my teasing, but don't you know how cute you are when you get so embarrassed?" he asked.

"I hope that's the cannabis that's doing the talking."

"It's not, but it sure does help me loosen my lips when I want to flirt with a pretty girl."

"Thanks," muttered Rizu under her breath.

"Come on, Rizu! I can't be the only guy who has ever complimented about your looks!"

_No, Raian, you're not,_ thought Rizu as an image of Robu appeared in her mind.

Suddenly, the mental picture shifted to a younger Raian Daishizenno staring at her with emotionless eyes while his four of his closest high school friends taunted her. _"Hey, look, you guys! It's Daishizenno's girlfriend!"_

"_She sure doesn't look like girlfriend material to me!"_

"_And she's definitely not Daishizenno's type! I wouldn't dare to go out with somebody as ugly as her!"_

"_Why the tears, Hikarino? Are you crying because your boyfriend can't come to save you? Oh, wait a minute. You don't have one!"_

Rizu pulled her legs up against her chest and shuddered from the memory as their cold words filled her head with nothing but negative thoughts. Raian watched her shake controllably from his soft, gentle touch, and tears steadily rolled down her face. "Rizu, are you okay?" he asked.

She jerked away from Raian and glared at him from the corner of her left eye. "How dare you say such a thing!" she hissed.

"What did I do?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Daishizenno! I know you're trying to mess with my head again!"

"How? How am I trying to mess with your head?" challenged Raian.

"By calling me pretty!" cried Rizu. "Why would you go and say such a thing now when I wasn't pretty enough for you before? I haven't changed when I first saw you!"

"I never said anything of the sort!" said Raian. "I don't know who told you that, but it wasn't me!"

"No, it wasn't you, but Jeshi did," sighed Rizu. "Her and most of your friends who knew I had a crush on you."

"Don't believe that bullshit. You and I know that everyone loved to tell you lies just to hurt you," said Raian before he took a long drag from his joint.

"But if I had the courage to ask you out back then, what would you have said?" asked Rizu.

"I would have said that you were pretty," began Raian hesitantly.

"And, yet, I'm not your type," finished Rizu.

Raian lowered his joint and let out a deep breath to release the toxic excess that trapped inside his lungs. "I was quite the shallow guy in the day," he said. "I only wanted to date the skinny skanks because I thought they would make great future pinups for my bedroom, but I learned more about them the hard way. They might have had a great set of tits and a nice ass, but their personalities stunk. They couldn't love me for who I was. They couldn't see the person behind my bad boy persona.

"I'm sorry if my compliment just contradicted your perception of me, but people do change, you know? I'm not the same boy you thought you knew. Actually, I don't think you knew me at all."

"How could I? Your friends wouldn't give me a chance!" retorted Rizu.

"And I partially blame them for it too," said Raian.

"Partially?"

"I can't completely put the blame on them when you didn't step up and defy everybody yourself, can I?" snorted Raian. "You let them walk all over you because you were a coward. You were afraid nobody would like you if you showed them your rebellious side. I have news for you: nobody at that school would have cared one way or another, not even your old best friend. Your reputation had already been determined by those you went through junior high with, and it would have been a whole lot worse if you became another teenage delinquent. Nobody likes a poser, and that's exactly what you would have been. You're not a bad girl or a rebel."

"But I'm a loser," muttered Rizu.

"You're a loser because that's what the world wants you to believe. But you know what? You're not a loser to me. If anything, you're a winner. You've gone where most of your classmates couldn't go because of grades, because of pregnancy, or because of their permanent records with both the school and the law, and you know what that is? University. They couldn't reach the point where we are now because they thought they had it made. They did until they fucked themselves over, that is. Now you see why you're not really a loser, Rizu? If you were, you wouldn't be here listening to me, would you?"

Rizu lowered her eyes to the ground and nodded her head as she listened carefully to Raian's words. "You're right," she said. "I guess I never thought of it that way before."

Raian smirked and brought the half-smoked joint to his lips. "The human mind is such a wonderful thing," he purred.

A blew flew above their heads into the branches, and Rizu took notice of the cloudless sunset in the distance on the other side of the residence complex. "It looks like it's gonna be another beautiful night," she remarked.

"All thanks to the blessings of Jā," said Raian.

Rizu turned her head to him and asked, "Who is he? I mean you told me that he's the only true friend you've got left, but I don't ever recalling seeing him at school!"

"Oh, he was there, and he's here with us," replied Raian.

"Where? I don't see him!"

Raian laughed behind his joint and continued, "You're not supposed to see him; you have to _believe_ to know he exists. Jā is a sacred name for Shinmei in my religion."

"Your religion?" asked Rizu in disbelief.

"You think I'm lying to you?"

"I can't be too sure that you're telling me the truth, not after I heard you laugh about it with your friends."

_Here we go again,_ thought Raian. "And when exactly did that happen?"

"When you were a freshman, and we were dismissed from Biology. Don't you remember?"

_"Man, I got another invite from one of those crazy Shinmei lovers for that stupid Resurrection Sunday service I keep hearing about!" whined Sutefan E-suno as he walked out of the biology laboratory with Raian and their other friends trailing behind. "What is it with these people saying that I'm gonna go to Hell all because I don't believe in a _kami_ that I can't see?"_

_ "What makes you think there is a Hell?" snorted A-ron Yamano. "There isn't even an afterlife! When we die, we die!"_

_ "What do you think, Daishizenno? Do you think there is such thing as a Heaven and Hell?"_

_ "Why are you asking me for?" asked Raian._

_ "Because I heard that weird Hikarino girl in our Biology class is one of those Shinmei followers. Surely you know better than to believe in such nonsense!" goaded Sutefan._

_ "No wonder she's a lunatic! She probably thinks that Daishizenno was sent to her by Shinmei!" laughed A-ron._

_ Erizabesu had just stepped into the hallway from the laboratory when she heard Sutefan referring to her by her last name. She hid behind the wall along the water fountains and listened to Raian's cold reply. "Well, I certainly don't want to be as loony as she is," he began. "People like her would believe in anything from being torture in the afterlife, if there even is one. And what's with this bullshit about _kirisutokyou_ being the only religion that will get you into Heaven! That's pretty conceited, if you ask me."_

_ "I know!" agreed Roman Tsukino. "What I'm more interested is when all those _kurisuchan_ hypocrites die and they have nowhere to go. Can you imagine the look on their faces when they realize that they've been lied to by their own _kami_?"_

_ "I'd pay a million yen to see that!" chortled Raian._

_ Erizabesu drew her science book to her chest as tears began to form in her eyes. She was hurt by Raian's insult, although he was still unaware of her presence, and she had to force herself from jumping out from behind the wall and throwing a punch or two at him. She instead turn around the corner and ran blindly to her locker on the other side of the skybridge._

Raian carefully listened to Rizu's story, but when she finished, he shook his head in denial and, "I don't remember any of that happening."

"How could you not?" snapped Rizu. "I was crying for the rest of the day because of those words! They really stung me!"

"I think you've breathed in too much cannabis."

"Don't you dare use that as an excuse, Raian Daishizenno!"

"Look, Rizu, even if I did laugh at your religion, I'd be laughing at mine too!"

"Why? You're not even a _kurisuchan_!"

"No, I'm not, but it did stem from the _kurisuchan_ tree," answered Raian. "I worship Jā , which is short for Jahaue, the _kami _of my religion. He's the same _kami_ from _kirisutokyou_ and _yudayakyou_."

"So, if you're worshipping the same _kami_ as we do, then why don't you call him Shinmei? Wouldn't that be less confusing?" asked Rizu.

"Jā has a special meaning to my people, much like Yahaue is to the _yudaya-jin_."

"Your people?"

"Yeah."

"But I don't remember giving us him such a silly name like Jā! He's always been known as Shinmei to those who follow _kirisutokyou_!"

"I wasn't talking about the Japanese," said Raian. "My people are those who follow the practices of Ras Tafari."

"Ras Tafari? Who's he?"

"Ras Tafari was an Ethiopian emperor who purchased a lot of land in Africa to bring the exiles back to their homeland, especially those who were sent to live in Jamaica," replied Raian. "He was the Iesu to the Africans at the time, and many believed him to be the Savior."

"That's impossible! There's only one Savior, and that's Iesu!" exclaimed Rizu.

"That's what they thought until Ras Tafari created a miracle out of their oppression. He's now believed to be as divine as Iesu and is expected to return to his people. It's hard to say if it'll be through reincarnation like the Dalai Lama or a second coming like Iesu. No one knows when it'll happen, but we hope soon."

"So, your people worshipped a mortal man?" asked Rizu in disbelief.

"Yeah, even though he refused to think of himself as the next Iesu. It was more than likely a misunderstanding by Africans and Jamaicans who had never heard the word of Shinmei before. But the craze went out of control, and a cult-like religion was created out of it."

"And what religion was that?"

"_Rasutafarizumu,_" answered Raian. "However, because I did grow up in the church as a child, I do hold a belief toward the divinity of Iesu. For all we know, He could have been using Ras Tafari to do His will during Ras Tafari's reign."

"So that would make you—"

"I'm still a _kurisuchan_, but I'm also a _rasutafarian_."

"But you're not black," said Rizu.

"You don't have to black. You just have to believe in Ras Tafari," explained Raian. "_Rasutafarizumu_ is widespread like _kirisutokyou_ in places where the word of Shinmei is accepted. It's mostly contained in Jamaica and Africa, but there's still a portion of Americans who practice it, despite of their laws against cannabis. It's also practiced here in Japan, but you have to look real hard to find a group."

"Because it's smaller than _kirisutokyou_?"

"By a long shot. But for being small groups, they're very devoted to Jā."

"So, what's with the cannabis? Are you doing smoking it for fun?"

"There's nothing funny about it!" growled Raian. "The cannabis is a sacred herb to _rasutafarizumu_. We smoke it to make us feel like we are in Jā's presence. It's almost like that same feeling you get when you have incredible sex, but we don't do it for the hell of it. We do it to connect ourselves with Jā.

"The _seisho_ speaks of planting seeds and multiplying our crops for the grace of Shinmei. The same can be said in our translation of the _seisho_. Each plant on this soil is very important to us, but the cannabis is the greatest plant of them all. We believe that it was blessed by Jā so that we may be one with him in our daily meditation or when we do our ritual of reasoning with others.

"But there came a time when people ignored the spiritual aspect behind the plant, and they used it for their own purpose just to get that sweet feeling of being high. They didn't care about being one with Jā; they only cared about a temporary escape from the world and its evils. Because of that, our hope to bring _rasutafarizumu_ to America has become limited, and some followers in America have to use a substitution in order to practice freely without getting in trouble with the law. Unfortunately, more and more people continue to misuse cannabis just to make a living off of it through illegal sales. It just sickens me to see such a wonderful creation being used for wrong reasons."

"But what about the doctors who have used cannabis for medication?" asked Rizu.

"You mean like Papa?" snorted Raian. "I blame every doctor on this planet for creating a new group of addicts in the world, and here's the reason: they don't talk about the spiritual importance of cannabis."

"Why?"

"Because initiating a conversation about religion in a professional setting outside of the church is taboo. That's why."

"I see."

Raian snuffed out the small remainder of his joint in the grass and let out a heavy sigh. "Didn't you say you were going to grab some dinner in the Village?"

"Yeah, I thinking about getting a sub at the sandwich shoppe by the bookstores," replied Rizu. "It's getting rather late, isn't it?"

Raian looked up and saw several stars in the sky as the sun continued to set beneath the horizon. "Yeah, it is," he said. "I hope you don't mind if I go with you. I'm starting to get a bad case of the munchies, and I hate to have you walk alone on these streets without an escort."

"We could take my car," suggested Rizu.

"And waste gas for a short roundtrip? I don't think so!"

"But—"

"No buts, Rizu!" interrupted Raian. "I refuse to let you walk down that street without someone with you to keep the drunks away, and that someone is gonna be me! Is that final?"

Rizu dropped her shoulders in resignation. Arguing with Raian reminded her of the many times she argued with Robu in the past: no matter how hard she tried to get her point across, she would give up just to stop the bickering. Whining like a child, she gnashed her teeth together and grumbled, "Fine. You can come with me."

"Thank you," said Raian, smirking triumphantly to himself as he began to walk beside Rizu toward the Village.

After spending a half-hour in the sandwich shoppe, Rizu and Raian started their journey back to their residence complex. The clear nighttime sky loomed over their heads, but a cool early October breeze blew lightly against their cheeks. Rizu shuddered from its cold sting, and Raian laughed at her sudden reaction. "It can't be that freezing!" he said.

"It's not that bad, but it is going on eight o'clock," reminded Rizu. "My body must be ready to shut down for the night."

"That and you did have one hefty submarine sandwich. I swear I have never seen a girl eat as much as you did tonight in less than ten minutes!" commented Raian.

"I guess I was hungrier than I thought," confessed Rizu.

"I guess. So, what are you planning to do when we get back?"

Rizu shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I don't know. I ought to start on my homework for English Literature. I mean I got my weekend assignment to do _and_ a study guide to complete for our midterm. And I really need to pass this test, or I'll end up being on the chopping block with the school."

"You? On the chopping block? Impossible!" snorted Raian. "You're Erizabesu Hikarino! You were an honor student in Roganu!"

"Was, not anymore."

"What happened?"

"I have no idea," answered Rizu quietly. "It's probably just a bad brush of karma, given the fact that I didn't attend cram school when I should have."

"So, why didn't you?"

"I knew most of the material, and I didn't really study in high school.

"And because you only knew what you teachers taught you, you're now finding out that not everything from high school carries into university. Am I right?" asked Raian.

"You have no idea just how right you are," muttered Rizu.

"You know it's not too late to change degrees."

"I wish I could, but I've already done that by dropping out of the foreign education language program this summer. The last thing I want to do is to pick up a completely different major and put myself further into debt."

"You do have a point," conceded Raian.

They stopped along the curb of the main road that ran past their residence complex and the auditorium, and they waited until all incoming traffic from the scramble light had passed them before they crossed the street together. As they began to walk down the incline by the bicycle racks, they spotted Keitorin exiting from the fishbowl entrance with her fencing gear draped across her body. She gave Rizu a curt nod and then turned her immediate attention to the unknown student who was standing rather close to her roommate.

"I'm sorry I was running a little bit late," apologized Rizu. "I didn't mean to take forever."

"I can only guess why," drawled Keitorin as she cast a glare at Raian.

Raian swallowed thickly and said to Rizu, "I guess I'll catch you around! See ya!"

He ran to the doors to the fishbowl, leaving the two young women alone in between bicycle racks. Keitorin whirled her head toward Rizu, and with a stern look on her face, she demanded, "What were you doing that took you so long?"

"I ended up eating dinner in the Village!" said Rizu. "I'm sorry that I didn't return sooner like I promised! What's the problem with that? I'm back, and I'm still alive! Are you happy now?"

"I just got worried about you when you didn't show up twenty minutes after you left, and then you were gone for almost an hour!" explained Keitorin. "I was afraid something bad might have happened to you!"

"What am I supposed to do? Let you know about everything that goes on in my life?" snapped Rizu. "Keitorin, I'm gonna be twenty-one in April, okay? I think I can handle myself!"

Keitorin took a whiff of the air and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "If you think you can handle yourself, then what is that awful stench that you're wearing?" she asked as she shielded her nostrils with her right arm.

"Stench?" asked Rizu.

"Yeah! You smell like… ugh! Was it from that guy you were with?"

_Fuck!_ cursed Rizu to herself. _I completely forgot about it!_ "It's probably his cologne," she lied.

"Well, if he's trying to lure girls, it's not working!" snorted Keitorin. "Damn, Rizu! It's making my eyes water! You better have had a shower by the time I get back from practice, you got that? I'd like to breathe in the room too, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm moving," mumbled Rizu.

"Thank you!"

Just as Rizu reached out to grab the silver door handle to the fishbowl, she heard Keitorin ask, "Hey, who was that guy anyway? Was that Robu?"

Rizu shook her head and replied, "No, Robu's at another school, remember? This guy is an old friend of mine."

"I see," said Keitorin. "Well, see you in about two hours! I'm not sure how long practice will be tonight."

"Not a problem."

"And, Rizu, you really need to get that smell off before Micchi asks you about it!"

"I'm heading that way! See ya!"

Rizu walked through the fishbowl and into the lobby where she found Deibiddo sitting at his favorite piano. He had blank composing papers strewn across the piano and a pencil behind his right ear, indicating that he was in the middle of writing a new song. She thought about visiting him for a minute or two, but she took a step back so that he would not catch a whiff of the toxins that had settled onto her body. _He probably knows a thing or two about cannabis anyway,_ she added mentally. _Maybe I ought to shower before I do anything else tonight._

Four girls from the first floor were approaching the doors outside of Micchi's office for a sorority meeting in the all-women's residence complex, and they kindly left the door open for Rizu as they walked by. She climbed up the three flights of stairs to her room, and she noticed as she was getting closer to the door that not a single student was caught in the hallways having a private conversation over the phone. _That's weird,_ she thought. _Usually there's somebody yelling at their girlfriend or boyfriend by now. I wonder what's up with that. I hope it's not me._

When she arrived at Room 322, she had begun to unlock the deadbolt when she heard a text message alert coming from her cell phone. She looked down at the outer screen and smiled at the sight of Robu's name. _He must have gotten his package today,_ she told herself.

She stepped inside the dark room and turned on the overhead light to read the message:

"Thanx 4 the bday gifts. i liked them. im even wearing the bracelet right now. :)"

Holding her phone close to her chest with a bigger smile on her face, she whispered, "Happy birthday, Robu."


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

Swimming into Trouble – A Fishy Situation!

Ami stepped out of the women's locker room in the lower level of the Tohru Oukan Gymnasium as the bright light from the early morning sunrise peered through the upper windows above the pool. She walked along the length in her favorite teal bikini with a white towel around her neck until she reached the empty bench behind the diving board. Taking off her glasses and placing them on top of her towel, she turned around to face the shallow end and steadily began to climb onto one of the five platforms in front of her.

As she positioned herself for a dive, she looked into the chlorinated water and saw a reflection of herself as a high school senior. Suddenly, the room shifted into a competitive setting, and she heard voices in her mind cheering over the sound of water splashing everywhere. "Not this again," she whispered.

_"Now representing for the Lady South Oukan _Tenshi_ in lane three, Ami Umino!"_

_ Eighteen-year-old Ami Umino climbed onto her diving platform in front of thousands of spectators from all across Japan. She had set many records at South Oukan Senior High School in one school year, participated in every varsity swimming competition during the regular season, and advanced as far as nationals on behalf of her hometown. Her family was very proud of her accomplishments, and she waved happily to them when she spotted her mother, her little brother, and Megu sitting in the stands to her left._

_ Although she had many supporters around her, one competitor was unhappy to see Ami in the championship round. The blonde swimmer in lane two, Mika Shittono, scowled with jealousy her as she watched Ami position herself for the signal. She attended a rivaling school outside of Ami's conference and was frequently paired against Ami for four straight years. Although neither girl had made it to nationals until that fateful day, Mika was determined to win a place in the international tournament in Paris, France, to represent Japan._

_ "Swimmers, take your place!"_

_ The ten participants bent forward with their arms stretched out and their heads parallel with the water. Ami tried to focus on her goal, but she heard Mika sniggering next to her, "Forget Paris, Umino. You'll never qualify for internationals if I can help it."_

Don't let her get the best of you,_ chided Ami to herself. _You've made it this far! You can't give up now!

_ The referee blew the air horn, and all ten swimmers simultaneously dived into the water. After several seconds had passed, the crowd roared like thunder as the overhead screen focused on the image of Ami and Mika leading the pack. "Go, Ami!" cheered Megu._

_ "In the lead of the eight hundred-meter freestyle lap are Ami Umino and Mika Shittono! They're approaching the wall to complete the first two hundred! And there they're off again, heading for another two hundred as they go back to the platforms!"_

_ Swimming neck-to-neck, Ami and Mika used their strength to push themselves toward their respective lane spotters. They reached out with their fingertips to tap the tiled edge, and they gracefully maneuvered their bodies with a quick turn to complete the six hundred-meter point. Mika grew tired as they approached the middle of the pool, but when she saw that Ami was not intending to slow down her pace, she grinded her teeth and kicked harder to get back into the lead._

This is it,_ thought Ami as the wall at the shallow end came into her view, but when she reached out to tap it, Mika's right elbow clipped the back of her head and shoved her scalp against the tile._

_ Mrs. Umino noticed her daughter's body lying still in the water while the other swimmers continued to race without taking realizing what had just happened. "Ami!" she cried._

_ Ami floated motionlessly with her face down and her eyes closed. She could hear her spotter reaching into the water to retrieve her body, but she was unable to respond until he pulled her out of the pool and off to the side where the school paramedics waited to examine her. The head paramedic took of her black spandex cap and pressed a damp cloth against her head to control the bleeding. "She bumped her head against the wall," he replied. "Get the ambulance ready. She's gonna need stitches right away."_

_ "And the winner of the eight hundred-meter event is Miss Mika Shittono!"_

_ Everyone looked across the pool and watched the judges give Mika her gold medal and a trophy for her school to display. She smiled for the photographers, who were taking pictures all around her, but when she caught a glimpse of Ami staring sadly back, her lips curled into a triumphant smirk._

_ "Can you stand up, Miss Umino?" asked the paramedic._

_ "I think so," replied Ami._

_ Steadying herself in the paramedic's arms, she rose onto her feet and staggered toward the locker room where Megu was standing with a white towel in her hands. "I can't believe I lost like that," she whispered._

_ "Come on, Ami! Don't let that piece of scum get you down!" soothed Megu as she wrapped the towel around her cousin's shoulders. "She's not worth your tears!"_

_ "But this was supposed to be my year. Now, I'll never be able to compete again!"_

_ "That's not true! You can always qualify for the Olympics once we graduate!"_

_ "Not if Mika plans on participating. Let's face it, Megu: Mika will always be better than me, and that's that."_

_ Just as she took a step forward, Ami heard Mika giggling from behind, and she turned around to face the blonde swimmer. "What do you want now?" she growled._

_ "I just wanted to tell you _au revoir_, Umino, and _bonjour,_ Paris," boasted Mika with a faux French accent._

_ "Why you little cheating—"_

_ "Tut tut, Umino. How could you accuse me of cheating when I won fair and square?"_

_ "I don't recall resorting to physical contact being as fair in high school swimming, especially physical contact that hurts others! I ought to turn you in for what you did to me!"_

_ "Like the judges will ever believe your story!" snorted Mika. "For all they know, it might just be nothing more than a little act of jealousy! After all, you were in the lead until that accident of yours slipped up and caused you to drop to last place._

_ "Face the fact, Umino: you'll never _ever_ qualify for internationals because when I'm done in Paris, my next stop will be the Olympics! Why? Because I'm gonna be Japan's greatest swimmer there ever was and nobody's gonna stop me!"_

_ Mika walked away with her head held high, leaving Ami heartbroken and disenchanted with herself. Megu took her cousin by the arm and gently led her into the girls' locker room to change with the paramedics following close behind. "Don't listen to that bitch," she told Ami. "She'll regret those words one day. Just you wait and see, cousin."_

_ Ami nodded her head as she glanced over her shoulder to find Mika posing for the photographers again with her awards. _That should have been me over there,_ she thought._

_ She felt the paramedic's hand on the small of her back, pushing her to move along, and she looked away with tears falling down from her eyes._

A teardrop broke the smooth surface and caused a ripple effect through Ami's reflection. Sniffling, she dried her face with her hands and stood up from her crouching position on the diving platform. "I can't do this," she whispered.

She walked over to the bench behind her to retrieve her belongings before the first Swimming 120 class came through the doors to the two locker rooms. After slipping her glasses onto her face, she took a deep breath and said aloud, "I'm a loser."

"No, you're not."

Ami's head snapped up as Raian's voice reached her ears. She turned her head to the right and saw him—dressed in his school uniform—approaching her with a spare towel. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was hoping to see how your progress was coming along," he replied. Gesturing to the towel in his right hand, he added, "But I guess you won't be needing this now."

"I couldn't do it, Raian," confessed Ami. "I tried, but all I could think was Mika."

"Ami, I know you can do it," said Raian. "I'm not expecting you to jump in and race like it was nationals, but I want you to at least learn what it felt like to be one with the water."

"But I'm scared."

Silence lingered between the two students until Raian stepped forward and took Ami into his arms where he held her close in a protective embrace. Pressing his lips against her left ear, he whispered, "There is no need to be scared. I'm the one who's here with you, not Mika. I promise I won't let anybody or anything hurt you."

"It's not getting hurt that I'm scared about," said Ami.

"Then, what is it?"

"It's getting back to where I used to be. I was on top of my game until Mika brought me down."

"Ami—"

"And I could never get back up because I knew she would always be better than me no matter how hard I tried."

"Ami—"

"I don't know if I can do it again, Raian! I just don't know!"

"Ami," said Raian firmly as he lifted her chin with his fingers. "I know you can do it, but you've been out of practice for a few years now. I don't want you to strain yourself. Just get in the water and relax. Float around if you must but relax. I'm gonna be up here. Nothing's gonna hurt you, okay?"

He reached up and carefully took her glasses off her face. "Okay?" he repeated.

"Okay," affirmed Ami with a small smile.

Raian took a seat on the bench and watched Ami climb up the steps to the diving board. Her toes curled around the edge when she had reached the end of the plank, and she pushed down on it with the balls of her feet to test it out. _I forgot what it felt like to be on one of these,_ she thought. _I can't believe it's been almost two years since I've done this._

_Come on, Ami,_ said Raian to himself. _Jump._

Ami took a deep breath and with all her strength, she bounced off the diving board with a clean break through the teal surface and pushed her body through the water using the butterfly stroke to get to the center of the pool. She lifted her head to breathe for a brief moment and swam further down the length until her feet were touching the rough floor.

Raian said nothing as he looked at her from the bench. Winking in approval of her progress, he gave her a thumbs up to congratulate her. She returned her thanks with a thumbs up of her own.

An hour later, they had a light breakfast at the Village Coffeehouse and sat in a booth by the open fireplace. "So, what has transpired you between you and Rizu?" asked Ami she sipped on her cup of hot tea.

Raian brought his coffee cup to his lips and answered with a small smirk, "Nothing but a little reacquainting."

"You mean you _still_ haven't told her?"

"The time isn't right."

Ami frowned and looked down into her teacup. "When will the time be right?" she sighed.

"I don't know!" said Raian in exasperation.

From across the room, Jeison sat alone in the corner booth along the window with his copy of the morning newspaper strung across the table. He was drinking his coffee when his ears perked at the sound of Raian's voice, and he turned his head to the side to find Ami talking to her companion from the night at the pizzeria. "The right time will come when it comes!" he heard Raian continue. "Right now, I'm not ready to tell Rizu the truth, and I don't think she's ready to hear it either."

"So, she's Rizu to you now?" inquired Ami with an arched eyebrow.

"I don't think she'd want me to keep calling her Erizabesu if she's constantly reminded of our time in high school," explained Raian. "It really doesn't matter which name she goes by these days. What matters is making sure she's prepared to face the truth."

"She'll hate you for it."

Raian sighed and turned his head to the side to hide the frustration that was evident in his green eyes. "I know," he whispered.

Jeison lifted his right eyebrow when Rizu's name reached his ears, and he glanced at the couple in interest as they continued to separate themselves from the other students in the room. _Rizu, eh? I bet they're talking about our Rizu, considering Ami seems to know her as Erizabesu as well,_ he thought. _I wonder what they're hiding from her and why is Ami so persistent about this truth._

Ami looked over her left shoulder, and Jeison glanced away, pretending to be more interested in the obituaries than her conversation with Raian. "I better get going," she said as she reached down to grab her messenger bag.

"Isn't it kinda early to head to class?" asked Raian, rising to his feet to join her.

"I just need to go back to the pool."

"For more swimming?"

Ami leaned closer to Raian and looked back at Jeison from the corner of her eye. "I can't disclose any further information," she replied.

With a nod, Raian placed his hands on her upper arms and said, "Be careful."

"I will," assured Ami.

Jeison watched the duo walk through the lounge and out the main doors in the next room. When he saw them on the other side of the window, he grabbed his messenger bag and began to follow them back to campus. _I've got a bad feeling about those two,_ he thought.

As he was passed the entrance to Sukoti's, he quickly hid himself in the brick alcove when Ami and Raian stopped outside the bookstore by the parking garage to bid each other a temporary farewell before going their serperate ways. Jeison waited until Ami kept her back turned to him as she continued her trek to the Tohru Oukan Gymnasium in the quad before he stepped out onto the sidewalk and resumed his mission.

When he opened the doors to the gymnasium, he saw Ami's shadow quickly disappearing from his line of vision at the bottom step of the lower level. He took a whiff of the chlorinated stentch that lingered in the air and wrinkled his nose. _Figures she'd be going to a place with a pool,_ he told himself.

He quietly walked down the stairs and heard Ami's voice bouncing off the walls as he drew closer. "Excuse me, sir, but I think I might have forgotten something when I came here to do my early morning swim today. May I please go and check?"

Jeison poked his head around the corner of the stairwell and found Ami talking to a male university recreation staff member who was stationed to supervise the pool for the morning. "You certainly may," he answered, opening the door behind him for her. "Go right ahead."

"Thank you," said Ami in return.

Jeison gripped the strap to his messenger bag on his right shoulder, and with a flip of his shaggy hair, he walked past the supervisor and tried his best not to look suspicious to the young man's watchful gaze. He gave the supervisor a small, friendly wave, but no other gesture was returned except for a mere nod of the head.

He strolled along the length of the hallway until he spotted Ami kneeling by the pool with her right hand in the pool. A blue light danced around her fingers, and he caught the corners of her lips twitching into a smirk. "What the hell is she up to?" he murmured.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" called the supervisor.

Ami heard muffled sounds coming from the other side of the glass paneling behind her and quickly pulled her hand out of the pool. Shaking off the excess water, she stood up and watched Jeison being interrogated by the supervisor. _Looks like my charm worked after all,_ she mused.

"But I was just keeping an eye on my little cousin!" insisted Jeison as he was being escorted out of the gymnasium.

"Whatever! Just get out of here!" barked the supervisor.

After throwing Jeison onto the cement slab outside the main entrance, the supervisor brushed his hands off and returned to his post where he saw Ami exiting the pool room and waving her cell phone in her right hand. "Found it!" she said.

"What an odd place to leave your cell phone behind," chuckled the supervisor. "You're very lucky it didn't get stolen or wet. Just remember to leave it in your locker next time."

"I will. Thanks again!"

As she walked down the steps outside the gymnasium, she dialed Raian's number and waited a few seconds for him to accept her call. "Hurry up," she said under her breath.

After the third ring, she heard Raian ask on the other line, "Well?"

"It's in the pool," she replied. "Make sure you got a free night. We're coming in."

"I'm telling you, Megu! There is something weird going on with Ami!" said Jeison later that afternoon as he and the other four Angelic Guardians climbed the steps to the library.

"Maybe she was just testing out the water or something," said Megu.

"You don't test the water in between swimming classes with your school uniform on!"

"Did she sign up to take swimming?" asked Deibiddo.

"She told me that she was taking a jogging class instead," replied Megu. "I guess she still hasn't gotten over her embarrassing loss at nationals."

"What happened?" asked Rizu.

"Ami was qualified to compete in the eight hundred-meter race, and she was winning until she had reached the six hundred-meter mark. We don't know how she injured her head, but she kept saying that an old rival clipped her head into the wall."

"Did she?"

"We're not sure. There was no proof of foul play, and you can't completely trust a spotter's point of view if both spotters are not in agreement."

"Did her rival win?" asked Beronika.

"Yeah, and she took home the trophy at internationals. She's going for an opening in the Olympics now. You might have heard of her: Mika Shittono?"

"Mika Shittono? _The_ Mika Shittono?" exclaimed Deibiddo.

"You've heard of her?" asked Megu, opening the doors to the south entrance of the library.

"Yeah! She graduated a year after my younger brother, and she was pretty tough to beat in swimming back then! I didn't know she went as far as qualifying for the Olympics! Wow, I can't believe she robbed Ami from going to internationals!"

"Or so Ami thinks."

Geiburieru was sitting patiently in front of the naked goddess statue on the other side of the metal detectors. When he saw the quintet entering library, he stood up and approached them. "You wanted to see me?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Jeison. "I think there's something you should know about. It's my cousin Ami."

"Ahem!" harrumphed Megu.

"Well, I should say _our_ cousin Ami."

Geiburieru immediately narrowed his eyes as Ami's name fell from Jeison's lips, and the memory of her conversation with Raian about the pillars played in his mind. "What about her?" he asked roughly.

"There's something going on that she's not willing to tell us, and I'm very concerned about it," began Jeison. "I was at the coffeehouse this morning when I heard her talking about Rizu to this one guy we saw her with at the pizzeria back in August."

"They were what?" demanded Rizu. "What did he look like?"

"Brown hair in a ponytail, green eyes—"

"Raian!" cried Rizu. "Ami was with _him_?"

"Unless you know another guy around campus who also knows you as Erizabesu," retorted Jeison.

"Maybe they were talking about another Rizu," said Beronika.

"I doubt it. I'm almost sure they were talking about our Rizu, considering what happened after I followed them."

"Continue with your story, Jeison," urged Geiburieru.

"I watched them split off on the outskirts of the Village, and I decided to check on Ami. I heard her tell Raian that she had to go back to the pool in the old gymnasium for something, but she never said what it was."

"Then what?"

"She went into the pool room and stuck her hand in the water. She kept it in there for quite a while too."

"Did you see anything?" asked Deibiddo.

"A blue light of some kind, but I couldn't get a closer look or anything. The guy from the recreation staff kicked me out for stalking my own cousin."

"Well, _technically_, you were," drawled Megu.

"Guys, I'm being serious!" insisted Jeison. "Ami and Raian are up to something, and I don't like it at all! I'm starting to think there's more to their transfer from Tokyo to Oukan than just being far from home! Something fishy's going on with those two, and I want to know why!"

"Geiburieru, what do you think about it?" asked Deibiddo as he turned his head toward the archangel for his wisdom.

But no one noticed that Geiburieru had left the circle without a word, and the quintet looked around their surroundings until Rizu saw his retreating form on the other side of the circulation desk. "There he is!" she said, pointing to his back.

They began to follow him, but an older librarian stopped them in their tracks and asked, "And just where do you kids think you're going?"

"We have to talk to Geiburieru!" answered Rizu. "Please, sir, let us through!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that unless Geiburieru is with you. I'm sorry but no unescorted students beyond this point."

"But—"

"No buts!"

Whining like a little child, Rizu turned and walked away from the circulation desk with her head hanging in defeat. "Come on, you guys. I guess our conversation's over," she mumbled.

Everyone trudged closely behind, but Jeison paused for a moment and looked over his shoulder at the empty hallway. Seeing Geiburieru disappearing all of a sudden left an uneasy feeling in his stomach, and he had a growing suspicion that it had something to do with his discovery.

Back in his office, Geiburieru inserted a gold compact disc into the disc drive of his computer and double-clicked its corresponding icon to load a profile program of the eight awakened Angelic Guardians. He typed the name "On'ai" in the search engine, and when he pressed the "Enter" key, only one page appeared in the list of results. Next to it was the date of the last contact he made with the other Angelic Guardians: October 2, 2007.

He glanced at the small daily calendar on his desk and noticed that it read October 2, 2007. "No," he breathed, taking another close look at his calendar before he forced himself to shift his attention back to the computer. "It can't be!"

Hours after the recreation staff locked the doors to the gymnasium for the night, Medosa's pet python slithered along the glass paneling outside the pool, occasionally pressing its nose against the clear surface. It let out an angry hiss and moved its long body to strike the barrier, but a pair of scaly sea green hands stopped the python by lifting it off the ground and into the arms of its owner. "Now, now, my pet," she crooned from under her hood. "We don't want to make a mess if we can help it."

The python tasted the air with its tongue and hissed again. Medosa cocked her head and asked, "What is it? What did you find?"

She lowered her pet onto the floor and allowed it to scurry toward the door to the pool room where it poked its tail into the wood, silently telling her to open the barrier if she wished to continue her search. She gave it a hard tug, but the deadbolt above the handle was locked and no key was to be found. "Delays, delays," she grumbled.

She took a step back and hurled a blast of dark energy into the deadbolt. Brass pieces fell at her feet, and all that was left of the small security contraption was a hole in the door with a clear view of the other side. With another tug, she pulled it open and watched the python glide along the edge of the pool until it came to a stop near the buoys at the halfway mark.

Medosa crouched down and stuck her right hand into the water. "Ah, yes!" she hissed delightfully. "So, this is what you were sensing! A job well done, my pet! Now, let's collect our treasure before—"

"Shi, wait up!" called Tamashii in the distance.

"Damn it!" cursed Medosa as she gathered her python into her hands. "It's them!"

Shi stood in the doorway, looking down at the broken deadbolt at his feet. He picked up the pieces and carefully examined the damage as the other four Angelic Guardians joined him. Tamashii tried to cross the threshold, but he placed his scythe in front of her before she could take another step. "Don't move," he growled. "Someone's been here."

"I don't see anyone," argued Tamashii.

"The deadbolt was ripped off when we got here, Tamashii! That should have been an obvious sign!"

"Well, you know me! I tend to be oblivious to many signs!"

Neither Shi nor the remaining Angelic Guardians found Tamashii's remark amusing, and they looked at her through narrowed eyes. Tamashii laughed hesitantly until she realized that her teammates' serious expressions had not softened. Sighing heavily, she muttered, "Never mind."

"So, what now?" asked Iinaka.

"Let's check this place out first before we do anything else," replied Shi. "Be careful, you guys. This could be a trap."

"Oh, come on, Shi!" scoffed Tamashii. "It's not like someone had planted a sea monster in the pool! It's chlorinated!"

Medetai was the first person to enter the room, and she stopped at the edge of the pool to begin her search for demonic activity. As she peered into the dark water, a sudden movement caught her attention, and she soon found herself staring at the face of a beautiful woman beneath the surface. A pair of green eyes glowed as the woman swam closer and made direct eye contact with Medetai.

Shi looked back at his companion, noticing that she was strangely entranced by the water. "Medetai, are you okay?" he asked.

Suddenly, a pale blue arm shot out of the pool and wrapped its fingers around Medetai's neck in a tight grip. "Medetai!" cried Shi as he watched her being suffocated.

Iinaka turned around just in time to see the creature pulling Medetai into the water, and she quickly summoned a heart-shaped fireball in her right hand. "Love Fire!" she cried.

She blew a flaming kiss at the arm, and the creature screamed in great pain, releasing its hold on Medetai and retreating further away from the surface to nurse its burn.

Medetai fell back against the floor and blinked a few times to rid the remnants of the creature's trance out of her eyes. "What happened?" she asked the other Angelic Guardians.

"I was hoping you'd tell us," answered Shi.

"Whatever it was that attacked you, it's definitely in the water," said Inochi.

"And it certainly is fishy," added Tamashii.

"Ew! That's gross!" grimaced Medetai. "I can't believe I almost got pulled in by a fish!"

"It could have been worse—you could have been _drowned_ by a fish," said Iinaka.

"Hey, you guys, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we got company coming this way," warned Inochi as he caught a glimpse of the creature from the corner of his eye.

"This can't be good," said Shi.

The creature shot out of the water with a giant splash that covered the five Angelic Guardians from head to toe. They looked up into the green eyes of an evil siren before she fell back into the water, and after being splashed for a second time, they stared at the ripples in the water in amazement. "What was that?" breathed Tamashii.

"I'd say that was a mermaid, but I could be wrong," replied Medetai.

"The last time I checked, mermaids don't put their victims into a trance using their looks," said Inochi.

"Then, what's a synonym for mermaid?" asked Iinaka.

"Siren."

"But I thought sirens used their voices!" said Shi.

"They do, but even an attractive woman can charm a man to his doom," explained Inochi.

"What about another woman?" asked Medetai unevenly as she recalled the strange magnetic force she felt from staring into the siren's eyes.

"No gender can easily escape a siren's trap."

Medetai swallowed thickly and grumbled, "I was hoping you wouldn't say that."

Deep in the water, the siren created an energy ball between her bony hands and sent a powerful force to the surface where it broke through and caused another tidal wave that pushed the Angelic Guardians against the wall. Lifting her head, she giggled with glee as she watched the quintet struggle to recover from her surprise attack.

Tamashii scowled from behind her wet tendrils and hissed, "I swear that fish is gonna be sushi by the time I'm done with her!"

"Well, at least we know one thing's for certain: the next crystal is in the pool, and that siren's guarding it," said Shi. "We need somebody to jump in and retrieve it."

"Can't we just kill the siren first?" whined Tamashii.

"I'm afraid it's gonna take four of us to handle her alone."

All of a sudden, the floor began to rumble beneath their feet, and Inochi looked across the pool where he found the siren riding a fountain with an evil smirk on her thin lips. "Shit!" he cursed. "We're fucked!"

"What's she gonna do?" asked Medetai.

The siren opened her mouth and began to sing a beautiful, haunting melody to lure the Angelic Guardians into a deep sleep. Tamashii was quick to plug her ears and tune out the siren's song from her mind, but her friends could not react in time and fell prey to the melodic attack.

When the siren ceased her singing, Tamashii found her friends sleeping peacefully all around her, and she heard the siren diving beneath the water. She could see the creature swimming toward her and began to step away from the water's edge, but a pair of arms reached out for her and pulled her into the pool where she almost hit the floor with her head. The siren pushed her against the bottom and wrapped her arms and her long silver tail around her victim to keep her from escaping.

Tamashii tried to look at her captor, but her eyes grew heavy from the lack of oxygen in her lungs, and her head grew dizzy and light. Suddenly, a blast of water flew past the siren, narrowly missing her left ear by a centimeter or two.

Waraku swam at full speed until she had reached a safe distance from the siren's tail zone. She formed another energy ball in the palm of her right hand and threw it at the siren, forcing the creature to release Tamashii as she screeched in pain. Collecting Tamashii into her arms, she pushed her body to the surface with only seconds to spare. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Tamashii wheezed and coughed up water from her lungs as she took shallow breaths to regulate her erratic breathing. Nodding her head, she replied, "I will be. Thanks for coming to my rescue."

"Waraku, is she okay?" called On'ai as he looked over the bodies of Tamashii's friends.

"Yeah. I think she's just shaken up right now," answered Waraku.

"Did you find it?"

Waraku opened her mouth to reply, but the siren's screeching bounced off the tiled walls as she leaped into the air and shot a blast of water at the trio. On'ai dodged the attack while Waraku and Tamashii ducked beneath the water and moved toward the deep end for safety.

The siren sneered as she caught a glimpse of the two Angelic Guardians swimming beneath her, but On'ai took advantage of Waraku's diversion and cried out, "Rose Petal Cyclone!"

From the center of his right palm, a storm of sharp pink rose petals spiraled its way into the right cheek of the siren's face and caused the siren to land hard under the surface. She shifted her attention from Tamashii and Waraku and began to focus on her new target. She had quickly forgotten about Waraku standing behind her on a diving platform with an energy ball in her hand, and she froze when she heard the words "Hurricane Blast" ringing in her ears.

The eerie sound of a hydrodynamic force roaring from behind beckoned the siren to slowly turn around, and the powerful blast of water engulfed her before she could escape.

Waraku glanced at Tamashii from the corner of her right eye and asked, "Do you think you can handle the rest from this point on?"

"I think so!" replied Tamashii.

The siren lifted her head above the surface and choked on the chlorinated water in her mouth after being consumed by Waraku's attack. A bright light caught her eye, and she turned her body toward the path of Tamashii's arrow. The sharp tip struck her chest, and she was trapped inside a vortex of air where she was crushed to death. Her body then released a mighty force that was as strong as a tsunami, and one last tidal wave came crashing down onto Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi, waking them up from their sleep.

"Guys!" called Tamashii as she ran along the pool to join them.

Her right foot slipped out in front of her, and she landed hard on her bottom with a loud thud. "Ow! That hurts!" she cried.

"And now you know why they created the 'walk, don't run' rule at a swimming pool," chuckled Shi, reaching out to help Tamashii onto her feet. "It was specifically enforced just for you."

"Shut up," grumbled Tamashii. "Are you guys okay?"

"We will be as soon as we get that siren!" answered Iinaka as she made a punching gesture with her hands. "Where did she go?"

"Don't worry, Iinaka. We took care of her."

"_We_? Who's this we? We weren't with you!"

"You certainly couldn't handle the siren all by yourself," added Medetai.

"No, you're right. I couldn't," sighed Tamashii in defeat.

"Then, who helped you?" asked Inochi.

Tamashii swallowed thickly and lowered her head, knowing that her friends were not going find her answer acceptable. "On'ai and Waraku," she replied quietly. "They saved my life."

"Ha!" snorted Shi. "Like I'm gonna believe that load of bullshit! Knowing them, they probably used you to destroy the siren just so they can go off and search for that damn crystal while our lives are in danger! They could really care less about any of us!"

"That's not true!" argued Tamashii. "I know deep in my heart they are not like that at all!"

"Oh, really?" challenged Shi with a smirk. Crossing his arms over his chest, he added, "If that's true, then where did they go? I don't see any other Angelic Guardians here except us!"

Tamashii looked over her shoulder to find On'ai and Waraku missing, and she glanced around the pool room to find hints of their whereabouts. "But they were just here!" she insisted. "They wouldn't have used me like this! Waraku saved my life—"

"Because you were in the way of their mission!" spat Shi. "They only helped you for one reason: the siren was guarding the third crystal, and you got caught in the crossfire! Once the siren was gone, they were gonna leave you alone and continue their search for the crystal! Just let it go, Tamashii! You mean nothing to them!"

"But—"

"I said let it go!" screamed Shi. "Waraku doesn't care about you or any of us, and neither does On'ai!"

On the other side of the door to the women's locker room, Waraku frowned at Shi's cold words and pounded the hard surface with her right fist. "The nerve of that man!" she growled. "How dare he think so little of us!"

"Let them believe what they want to believe," snorted On'ai, resting his back against the wall with his arms over his chest and his eyes closed.

"But what about Tamashii? She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"She interfered with our mission!"

"She didn't mean to! She was just following Shi! Shinmei, On'ai, she almost got killed!"

On'ai opened his eyes and answered resentfully, "And because of her foolishness, we lost the crystal. I can no longer feel its presence in this building anymore. Myoujou has it now."

"When?"

"While we were busy saving Tamashii's ass against the siren. We should have left her alone and do what we had to do in the first place. We could have had that crystal in our possession instead."

"But, On'ai—"

"Helping Tamashii will be our downfall if we don't get back on track!" snapped On'ai. "We need to start focusing on our mission, Waraku, or else Myoujou is gonna summon the Gates of Pandemonium, and every ring of Hell will break loose when those gates are opened. We can't allow that to happen, got it?"

He turned away and started to walk past the showers when he heard Waraku seethe, "And you think flirting around with Rizu is any different?"

On'ai felt his jaw stiffen as Rizu's name fell upon his ear, and he grinded his teeth together in frustration. "_That_ is something _entirely_ different!" he said.

"I don't know. The fact that you still hold some kind of affection for her is no different than your last-minute decision to protect Tamashii from the siren tonight. Just what are you trying to prove to her?"

"That I'm not the same person she remembers," replied On'ai. "What she has now are memories that have been altered in light of her decision to become a normal young woman after the defeat of Myoujou in Roganu, and from what I've gathered yesterday, Shinmei didn't plant fond memories in her mind either."

"You know that you're gonna hurt her when you tell her the truth," warned Waraku.

"I know."

"And, yet, you don't love her anymore."

"It's not that I don't love her anymore, it's the fact that it was never meant to be," sighed On'ai. "We were only teenagers at the time, and we had no clue about true love or soul mates. But, then, she left everything when she graduated—our past, our friends… me. I could never forgive her for what she did, but what's done is done."

"But you're acting so sweet around her like you're interested in her!" said Waraku.

"I have to win her attention somehow," chuckled On'ai to himself. "I still love Tamashii, but I know she's not my soul mate. She deserves someone so much better than me."

"That explains why you didn't want her to die."

On'ai felt his heart pounding erratically against his chest. He knew Waraku had figured out his secret, and he soon became ashamed of his decision the moment he found Tamashii standing at the mercy of the siren upon his arrival. "Consider it as a life debt," he snorted as he stormed away into the depths of the locker room with Waraku on his trail.

Shortly after Tamashii and her friends left the pool room, Medosa stood in the dark corner beneath her cloak levitating a blue crystal in the palm of her right hand. "Looks like I've won again, Guardians," she purred, "and thank you, Tamashii, for keeping those two pests distracted for me."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Advice from the Wise – A Temporary Solution?

Rizu sulked all the way back to her residence complex after spending several minutes of taking out her frustration against the wall of the pool room. Her friends left her behind at Shi's command, and they were already gone by the time she stepped out of the gymnasium. Hanging her head to hide the tears that were threatening to fall, she began her journey home through the quad and past the scramble light.

_I know Waraku didn't save me because I was in the way of her mission,_ she thought as she passed the auditorium, _but I can't seem to get Shi and the others to understand. Why won't they listen to me? Why must they believe that On'ai and Waraku have a hidden motive in everything they do? This is the second time they've saved my ass, and we've done nothing but showed hostility to them all because Shi considers them as outsiders._

_ Geiburieru was right. They're stronger than us when it comes to these monsters, and had they not come to my rescue when I needed help, I would have been dead before the first day of class. Why can't we just get along?_

She trudged down the incline in front of the entrance to the fishbowl where she found Raian sitting along the wall with a cigarette in his right hand. He studied her face, noticing the sadness in her eyes, and tapped loose a chunk of smoldering ash. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Just some drama," replied Rizu.

"What kind of drama?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Come on, Rizu! You were bullied by my friends for three years, and you don't call that drama? What makes you think I wouldn't understand this time?" challenged Raian.

Rizu sighed and took the empty spot next to Raian with a flop. Keeping her gaze fixed on the cement, she gripped her plaid skirt in between her fingers and began to speak. "Sometimes, I feel like my friends don't understand the things I do," she confessed, carefully choosing her words as she went. "Like tonight, they got upset with me because I have a different opinion about two people that they don't like."

"Why don't your friends like them?" inquired Raian.

"I don't know. They think that everybody is out to get the best of me, and they just don't want to see me get hurt. That and they don't quite see eye to eye on many things."

"So, why are you sticking up for these people?"

Rizu tightened her grip and answered, "I believe we can all get along if we gave everyone a chance. It's not healthy to be in conflict all the time."

Raian's face softened as he brought his cigarette to his lips. "No, it's not," he agreed. Taking a quick drag, he then asked, "Rizu, don't you think you're being a little bit too optimistic about the whole thing?"

"Whatever do mean?" asked Rizu.

"I'm talking about you believing in giving everybody a chance. Everyone deserves one, but what if someone does something to hurt you, something that is unforgiving? Would you give them a second chance?"

"Yes."

"What about a third?"

"Yes."

"And a fourth?"

"Absolutely."

Raian narrowed his eyes and said, "So, you would continue to hand out unnecessary chances until you've been finally walked all over by every person on this planet."

"That's not what I meant!" protested Rizu.

"That's the impression I got."

"Raian, it's not that I believe in second or third chances, but it's something called forgiveness! That's something I do take seriously!" said Rizu. "And I know that if we can forgive one another, we wouldn't be having all these wars!"

"So, you think forgiveness is the answer to what's going on in the Middle East? How unrealistic of you to think of that," snorted Raian. "Rizu, we've all forgiven somebody at some point in our lives, but if that same person did us wrong again, why should he deserve my forgiveness for the second time? He blew his chance to redeem himself to me, and unlike you, I'm not one for being taken advantage of.

"I'm not familiar with the history between your friends and these other two characters, but if I were you, I'd let them be. You'd just make things worse if you try to push them toward your beliefs."

"But I can't choose sides!" said Rizu.

"And why not?"

"Because those people saved my life!"

"And your friends can't see that?"

"No," muttered Rizu. "They think the whole thing was another mind game."

Raian flicked his cigarette with a gentle tap and took a long with smoking billowing from between his lips. "Then, I suggest you do what you feel is the right thing to do, whether it's accepting your friends' point of view, defending the ones they believe are tricking you, or walking away from the whole situation," he said.

"But what if I lose my friendship with everybody?" asked Rizu.

"That'll just prove that they were never your friends to begin with," replied Raian sharply.

"But they're the only friends I've got!"

"No, they're not. You've got me."

Rizu felt her heart skip a beat as Raian's words reached her ears. Taking her right hand, she reached over her lap and pinched her left forearm. "Ow!" she yelped.

"Why did you do that for if you knew you were gonna hurt yourself?" chuckled Raian.

"To make sure I wasn't dreaming," said Rizu.

"Oh?"

"Raian, I've known you since I was in high school, and not once did you ever tell me that you wanted to be friends with me."

"You never asked."

"Well, you kinda know why I didn't!"

"Look, Rizu, my friends aren't here, and we're no longer in high school. There's no need to be afraid anymore," promised Raian. "I knew I was missing out on something great by ignoring you, even if you did have a massive crush on me back then, and that's one thing I regret. I'm sure you would have been one hell of a friend to me like the one you are right now."

"I am?" asked Rizu.

"Yeah. Take yesterday, for instance, when you caught me smoking a joint on campus. A lot of people who would have ratted me out to Micchi or the housing director, but you didn't. I appreciated that a lot."

"I see."

"And ever since I transferred to Oukan, I feel kinda out of place," continued Raian. "I don't have any friends except for my roommate, but he's gonna be going to another school next semester."

"But what about Ami?" asked Rizu.

"Ami?" repeated Raian.

"Yeah. That girl who's been with you around campus!"

"How do you know her?"

"She's Megu's and Jeison's cousin," answered Rizu.

"I see. Well, if you want to know, Ami's just a fellow classmate of mine from Tokyo," explained Raian. "We attended a history class together, and we just clicked."

"So, does that make her you friend?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Well, there you go! You've got another friend besides me!"

"Yeah, but I can't be around her a lot, considering she has a boyfriend."

"And you think I don't?" snorted Rizu.

"Rizu, I know you don't have a boyfriend. Otherwise, you wouldn't be falling for me again," chuckled Raian.

Rizu felt her face flush with embarrassment. Raian had pointed out her flaw, but before she could admit the truth, memories of Robu started to replay in her mind, forcing her to tear her guilty gaze away. "Well, there's this other guy I like," she confessed.

"You mean you're crushing on another boy at the same time?" teased Raian.

"Shut up! He's very important to me!"

"I take it he doesn't go to this school."

"No. He lives near Nagasaki."

Raian frowned behind his cigarette and said softly, "He must be one lucky guy."

"How can he be lucky? We're not even dating!" cried Rizu.

"Is that so? Well, it's a pity to say that he's being loved by a girl from a distance, and if I had to bet, I'm almost sure the _baka_ doesn't know it either."

"Even if he did, he couldn't date me because I work for his grandmama," sighed Rizu. "If only the circumstances were different."

Raian reached over to the canister on the wall and dropped his cigarette stub inside. "Love can surprise us all by overcoming great circumstances," he said. "There are no boundaries when it comes to true love. Fear and negative influences can only hold it back for so long. But I promise that it'll be returned to you in the most unexpected way. You just need to let time take its course."

"You don't really mean that!" said Rizu.

"I do. And if I were you, I wouldn't give up on him. I'm sure he'll come around one day."

Rizu blushed again and said shyly, "Well, thanks."

"Not a problem."

Raian rose to his feet and began to walk toward the set of doors next to the study lounge of his hall, but when he reached for the silver handle, he added, "Just remember what I've told you tonight, Rizu. We all deserve to have friends, but we don't need friends who think of us as traitors because of what we believe in. Just listen to your heart, and do what you think is the right thing."

Rizu said nothing as she listened to the door shut behind him, and she turned her sad gaze to the starry sky above her. Although she would never admit it to Raian, his advice deeply bothered her. _"Just listen to your heart, and do what you think is the right thing."_

_But what _is_ the right thing? _she pondered. _I don't want to lose my friends over something like this because of what I feel, but I can't make myself look like them to On'ai and Waraku either. That'll just give them more evidence that we can never work together as a team._

Taking a deep breath, she then asked aloud, "What do you want me to do, Shinmei?"

Later the following morning in between her classes, Rizu passed through the metal detectors at the south entrance of the library to grab a light brunch at the café. She saw Geiburieru checking out several books for a student at the circulation desk, but instead of giving him a wave of acknowledgement, she kept on walking and stepped inside the café where she found Ami sacking a small container of cereal and several bottles of juice at the counter island by the doorway. Ami looked up from her task and greeted, "_Ohayo gozaimasu_, Rizu."

"Don't you mean _konnichiwa_?" snorted Rizu.

"It's not quite yet noon."

"So what?"

Ami frowned and asked, "What's got you so down?"

"A lot of drama," sighed Rizu. "Drama that I don't need, especially from a certain person."

"Is it my cousin?"

"Which one?"

"Jeison. Megu's not one for starting trouble."

"You're right about that," said Rizu sourly. "Well, since you wanted to know, yes, it's Jeison. I don't understand why he can't give people a chance to prove themselves to him!"

"What happened?" asked Ami.

"He's not too happy about me defending two people we've met not too long ago all because he doesn't trust them!" replied Rizu. "He thinks that they're using me!"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you," assured Ami softly. "I know my cousin can act like a big brother at times, especially around friends that matter the most to him, but he really means no harm. He's only looking out for you."

"I appreciate all that he's doing, but I'm a grown woman! I can make decisions for myself!"

Ami placed a comforting hand on Rizu's left shoulder and said, "Rizu, I know that you've been hurt by people, and that is exactly what Jeison doesn't want to happen to you again."

"You don't get it, Ami. These people that he wants me to get away from saved my life last night!"

Ami narrowed her eyes as her mind projected the memory of Waraku rescuing Tamashii from the siren the night before, and she gripped her clear plastic bag in her left hand until her knuckles turned a ghastly shade of white. _Why won't she give up?_ she thought. _She's only letting Myoujou win every time we have to save her ass. Maybe On'ai was right. Maybe we should have left her alone._

"Rizu, don't you think there's a reason why Jeison wants you away from these two particular people?" she asked.

"I don't understand," said Rizu.

"Everyone wears a mask to hide their true colors. Some people can see through that mask, while others are oblivious of it and only see what's on the surface. It is when that mask is lifted do we finally see where we stand in the mask bearer's agenda. Suffice it to say, those who were too blind to see the agenda are the ones who get hurt the most.

"What Jeison is doing is trying to protect you from such people. You should listen to him, but it's not up to me to tell you what to do. Like you said, you're a grown woman, and you can make decisions for yourself."

"But I know these people mean no harm to me!" insisted Rizu.

"Really? Well, if they mean no harm to you, then why is my cousin telling you to stay away from them?"

"They just don't agree on many things," replied Rizu, "but I know that if we all can find a common ground, maybe, just maybe, we can come up with some resolution that will help us build a lasting friendship with each other."

Ami pulled her hand away and gave Rizu a sad smile. "You're such an optimistic person, you know that?" she commented. "You really do think there is always good in every bad situation."

"I've been a pessimist for most of my life. I'm just trying to see the positive side for once," confessed Rizu.

"I see," murmured Ami. "Well, I hate to leave you like this, but I really have to get going. I need to continue with my research paper for my Radiology class."

"Is it your midterm?" asked Rizu.

"No, it's the actual term paper. I've only written three pages so far."

"Three pages out of what?"

"Ten."

"That's not bad," remarked Rizu.

"Are you kidding me? It's very bad!" exclaimed Ami. "I should have written seven pages by now!"

"When is this paper due again?"

"I have to turn in the rough draft sometime in November."

"Ami, this is only the third day of October! There's no need to be upset!"

"There's no need to be upset? Rizu, I easily get sidetracked, and I hate to do everything at the last minute! This is a huge part of my grade, and I want to ace the class!" cried Ami.

"Okay, okay! I understand!" said Rizu hastily. "I forgot how much of an overachiever you tend to be!"

"I'm not an overachiever. I'm a goal-oriented scholar," corrected Ami.

"Same difference."

"Whatever," snorted Ami playfully. "I'll see you around."

"Okay."

As Ami walked out of the café, Geiburieru walked in and joined Rizu by the fruit and dairy display rack at the checkout counter. "I thought I saw you just a while ago," he said.

"You were busy the last time I checked," returned Rizu.

"Not anymore."

He followed Rizu to the upright cooler where she grabbed a pint of chocolate milk from the rack and continued with their conversation. "I heard about what happened last night concerning On'ai and Waraku."

Letting go of the black handle, Rizu turned Geiburieru and asked dryly, "Oh really?"

"Yes. Do you want to come to my office and talk about it before you go to class?"

"Care for some tea? I brewed it just for you."

Rizu shot a glare at Geiburieru that caused him to shudder when he made eye contact with her. "Right. I forgot you hate tea," he said quietly as he placed his spare china teacup aside.

Taking the empty seat across from her, he crossed his legs and took a sip of his drink. "Several of my fellow angels have informed me that you're at a crossroad between your loyalty to your team and your desire to unite all Angelic Guardians for the sake of Shinmei," he began.

"That's the best way to describe it, I suppose," sighed Rizu.

"Yes. As you know, it's imperative to have the Twelve come together in order to fulfill Jon's revelation, but at the same time, you don't want to force those who aren't willing to ally themselves to you. That'll do just the opposite of what has to happen."

"But how can you expect us to work with On'ai and Waraku at the final battle if they won't come to us now?" cried Rizu. "I mean what do we need to do to prove to them that we'd be a whole lot stronger if we joined forces in this mission of theirs?"

"Rizu—"

"No, Geiburieru! I don't want to hear it!" shouted Rizu as she jumped to her feet. "I'm tired of the fighting! I'm just sick of it! We're all Angelic Guardians, and we can't seem to get along! Do you know how pathetic that looks to Shinmei? I'm sure Myoujou's down in Hell on his throne, getting a kick from all the squabbling! This is probably what he wants to happen: two groups of Angelic Guardians always at each other's throats during the advent of a great holy war!

"I can't stand back and watch everything fall apart around me! It's too much of a risk! If I leave it alone, things might never change! I have to do something to get my friends, On'ai, and Waraku to open up their eyes and see the reality of what they're doing! Their fighting isn't getting us closer toward the goal; it's pulling us further away from it! It needs to stop!"

Rizu flopped down into her chair and buried her face into her hands. "Why can't we give them a chance?" she sobbed.

"Because they don't have to give you one," said Geiburieru gravely. "I agree with your point, Rizu; it's very valid. However, because of the rift between Shi and On'ai and their respective groups, it'll take a miracle to mend the broken ties in order for unity to be achieved."

"If only Seijitsu was here," sniffled Rizu. "He could straighten everybody out."

"I doubt it," argued Geiburieru. "Seijitsu would have most likely allied himself with On'ai and Waraku."

"He wouldn't do that! He's always been part of our team!"

"He might be part of your team, but he's not part of the Five. I specifically told you that he was the bridge between your team and the rest of the Twelve, but he's also considered as one of three Elementals of Earth."

"The Elementals of Earth?" asked Rizu. "Who are they?"

"The Elementals of Earth consist of the Angelic Guardians of earth, nature, and the ocean, the three physical characteristics that make our planet unique from any other planet in the galaxy. As you know, Seijitsu controls the power of the ground we walk on and the realm that separates man from Heaven and Hell. On'ai is the spirit that runs free through the deserts and the forests of the world, and he also rules over the plants and animals that inhabit our planet. Finally, there's Waraku, the voice of the sea and the keeper of marine life. Together, they are the wielders of the earth's balance where external circumstances are concerned."

"Are the Elementals of Earth that group of Guardians who can change genders from reincarnation to reincarnation too?"

"That would be them. On'ai and Waraku can also switch sexes if they choose to. They're not limited to just one gender whenever they go out to search for a new vessel. However, as of the last few reincarnations, neither of them had the desire to leave their comfort zones. On'ai has remained as a man and Waraku as a woman."

"And, yet, Shi respected Seijitsu because of what happened this past summer," murmured Rizu. "You don't think On'ai and Waraku could influence his way of thinking, do you?"

"No, but all it has to take for Seijitsu to lose Shi's trust is by associating himself with them," answered Geiburieru. "Shi won't think twice to overturn his decision. If someone does him wrong, they've done him wrong forever. This is one of many reasons why Seijitsu could not join you and the others this time. He would have been in the same boat with you concerning loyalty and friendship. Your loyalty is with the Five and his with the Elementals of Earth, but you also share the same friends."

"This sounds like something out of _Romeo and Juliet_," mused Rizu.

"That is if you're referring to the Montagues and the Capulets," added Geiburieru.

Placing his teacup on its matching saucer, he furrowed his eyebrows and then asked, "Were you, On'ai, and Waraku able to retrieve the third crystal?"

"I don't think any of us did," replied Rizu, "but as far as I know, the crystal is still at the gymnasium. I'm sure it's safe from Myoujou."

"You better double-check your homework if I were you. The crystal disappeared sometime during your battle against the siren."

Rizu jerked her head up and took a glimpse of Geiburieru's face. The archangel had pursed his lips into a grim expression, and she shuddered when she saw his twinkling gleam in his eyes fade away. _I really did it this time,_ she thought.

"And because of what happened last night, three out of the five crystals are now in Myoujou's possession," continued Geiburieru. "We can't let him have the last two. We must protect them at all costs. I'm sorry, Rizu, but you're gonna have to let On'ai and Waraku do their mission without interruption. You being involved in these battles concerning the crystals have left them empty-handed in their search, and Myoujou has taken advantage of it each time."

"But—"

"Leave them be."

"Fine," grumbled Rizu.

She reached down to grab her messenger bag by her feet and said to Geiburieru as she stood up, "I better get going. I got class in about twenty minutes, and I need to have something in my stomach before then. I'll catch you later."

Geiburieru watched the door slam behind her, and he quietly sipped his tea in the privacy of his small office until there was a speck of brown at the bottom of his teacup. Looking up at the ceiling, he laid the two china pieces aside and asked, "Why must I be the mediator to all this earthly drama, sir? You know how I hate to tell it how it is, especially to Rizu!"

When she was dismissed from her English Linguistics class for the afternoon, Rizu entered the food court across from the south entrance by the School of Education. She noticed as she passed the main entrance from across the library and the university theater that the maintenance workers were busy putting away the outdoor tables, chairs, and umbrellas for the winter and the small fountain had been shut off to keep the pipes from freezing. She could not blame school for its decision to start preparing for the coldest day of the year. The October nights were getting too cold, and the afternoon wind was just as freezing whenever it blew against her face.

As she walked by the island counter outside the checkout lanes, she noticed a familiar brunette senior sitting alone at a round table with her Psychology 100 homework scattered everywhere. "Hey, B!" she called to her. "What are you doing here?"

Beronika looked up from her notebook and waved at Rizu in reply. "Just getting a head start on my paper. I'm about to grab some food as soon as I'm done with this paragraph," she said.

"Homework?"

"More like a take-home midterm."

"When's it due?"

"Monday, but I want to get this finished so I can have a free weekend. I need plenty of time to work on my senior showcase."

"You mean you're not going to the Weekend Campus Party? I heard this Saturday's theme is wizards and magic!" said Rizu.

"Yeah, I know, but I think I'll pass this time around," sighed Beronika. "Besides, I got something better to do than to go all fangirl with a lightning bolt scar on my forehead."

"What could be more interesting than dressing up and watching a movie about your favorite boy wizard? Going to Jeison's frat house for another party?"

Beronika's mechanical pencil came to an abrupt stop the moment Rizu mentioned Jeison's name, and she felt the back of her neck burn with embarrassment. "Maybe?" she squeaked.

"You've got to be kidding me!" cried Rizu. "And I thought you didn't like the guy!"

"I don't!" hissed Beronika.

"Then, why did you get all red in the face just a second ago?" asked Rizu.

"Because it got a little stuffy in here!" lied Beronika.

"Come on, B! It's obvious that you like him, and he's still crazy about you! Why don't you ask him out?"

"Rizu, he's not my type!"

"So, just what is your type anyway? A guy who would go behind your back and date his ex-girlfriend because of the long distance between you two?"

Beronika sighed heavily and laid her pencil aside. Crossing her arms and her legs, she leaned back into her chair and glared at Rizu. "Did you really have to say that?" she asked coldly.

"I'm just saying, although, I do think you and Jeison would make a cute couple if you would give him a chance!" said Rizu.

"I swear you've been hanging around Megu too long," muttered Beronika.

She closed her notebook and stood up to push her wicker chair against the table. Turning to Rizu, she asked impatiently, "Well, are you gonna have lunch with me or not? I'm starving, and I've used quite a bit of energy from thinking!"

"And I thought I was bad when it came to thinking on an empty stomach," teased Rizu.

"Rizu, you always think on an empty stomach!"

"That's beside the point! And if you think changing topics like this is gonna get you out of the hot seat, you're wrong! Why don't you just come out and say it: 'I like Jeison Ankokuno.'"

"Look who's talking, Miss There's-a-guy-at-work-that-I-like-very-much-and-I'm-too-chicken-to-ask-him-out!"

"There's a difference between me not wanting to admit my feelings for Robu to his face and you not wanting to admit that I'm right about you and Jeison!" growled Rizu.

"I beg to differ! The way you're attracted to Robu is the same feeling I get from Jeison, and I don't want to ruin our friendship by telling him what he really wants to hear," argued Beronika.

"Why?"

"Because this could be a phase for all I know! Maybe I won't like him down the road, and then what?"

"Is this some of defensive mechanism that you have around guys that you like, even though you're too proud to face the facts?" asked Rizu.

"I could say the same about you, you know?" drawled Beronika.

"Leave Robu about this!"

"Then, stop talking about Jeison before I lose my appetite."

"Fine," mumbled Rizu, "but this conversation isn't over!"

_Believe me, it's far from being over,_ thought Beronika as she followed Rizu to the query line in front of the grille.

A half-hour and two sandwiches later, Rizu and Beronika began their journey to their respective residence complexes. They walked in silence as they passed the north entrance to the library and the courtyard in front of it, and when they approached the kiosk next to the School of Business, Beronika looked at her companion from the corner of her right eye and asked, "So, did you talk to Geiburieru about what happened last night?"

"Yeah," replied Rizu.

"What did he have to say?"

Rizu narrowed her eyes as she cast a frustrated look at Beronika and said sourly, "I should stop trying to push On'ai and Waraku into joining us if all it's doing is screwing up with their mission."

"And I agree," said Beronika.

"But you also agree with Jeison," reminded Rizu.

"That's because I do think they're shady," explained Beronika. "There's something about them that I don't like, On'ai in particular, and that mission of theirs is probably nothing compared to what we've been through in the past."

"But, B, if it wasn't for them the night we faced the harpy, we wouldn't be here right now!" argued Rizu.

"I know that, Rizu, but remember what happened when we dealt with the centaur? We ended up saving their asses! You were probably saved out of their convenience just so they could get the third crystal."

"Which they didn't get," added Rizu quietly.

"See what I mean?"

"But it was Shi's idea to check out the pool!"

Rizu paused for a brief second as a thought struck her mind. "You don't suppose Ami is Waraku, do you?" she asked.

"What does that have anything to do with it?" demanded Beronika.

"Think about it, B! Jeison followed Ami to the pool and knew that she was up to something! We show up, and there's siren protecting the crystal!"

"So?"

"And what about Ami transferring from Tokyo? Didn't you notice that she showed up about the same time as Waraku did? Not to mention the fact that they also share a love for water."

"But Ami can't be Waraku!" said Beronika. "They're two different personalities!"

"That's what we thought about Jeison," challenged Rizu.

"Well, if you think Ami is Waraku, then what do you have to say about Raian?" returned Beronika. "They seem awfully close to be just classmates from the same school. And besides, weren't you already a victim of Raian's little mind game?"

"What do you mean?" asked Rizu.

"For Kirisuto's sake, take off those rose-colored glasses and smell the coffee! Raian didn't want anything to do with you in high school, and here he is trying to befriend you two years later! Don't you find that a little too weird?"

Rizu shrugged her shoulders and answered coolly, "People change."

"And not for the best either," added Beronika. "I'm sorry, Rizu, but I don't trust him. He's got good looks and all, but that's just it! Aside from that, I get the feeling that he has bad intentions toward you, especially after what happened last night where On'ai is concerned! And if he is On'ai, then may Shinmei have mercy his soul because I won't if he ever hurts you!"

"You wouldn't dare!" seethed Rizu.

"Try me," said Beronika.

"And if Waraku is Ami, what's gonna happen between her, Megu, and Jeison? They're family!"

"But families have been known to disown bad apples of their tree, no?" asked Beronika.

"Yeah, I guess," muttered Rizu.

"Then, leave it alone. It's not our business to get involved, just like it's not your business to meddle with On'ai and Waraku's mission. We've cost them three crystals, and we'll cost them more if you keep trying to push them into allying with us. And if I were you, I'd keep my guard up around Raian and Ami. I don't want you to get hurt or anything."

"I'm not gonna get hurt," said Rizu firmly. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Beronika frowned at her former roommate's bold statement. Stepping forward, she drew Rizu into a hug and whispered as they parted, "That's what they all say."

She turned around and resumed her journey to her complex, leaving behind Rizu with a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Back in the social lounge at the residence complex, Deibiddo fumbled around with his latest orchestral piece as he sat at his favorite upright piano, muttering something incoherent about chords under his breath all the while. He had spent more than a week putting together a digital file of his work on his computer and perfecting it to sound like a real orchestra, but after sitting in front of the piano for over an hour, he realized that there was a slight difference between a real instrument, especially one that was sorely out of tune, and its synthetic replica.

Grumbling to himself, he picked up his pencil and had started to erase a note when he saw Rizu walking into the lounge from exit to the fishbowl. "Hey, Rizu!" he called from across the room. "Where are you off to?"

"Up to the room to do some homework," said Rizu as she climbed down the small landing to join him. "Hey, are you available Saturday night?"

"What for?"

"The Weekend Campus Party at the Student Center. The theme is about magic and wizardry."

"I'll pass."

"But I don't have anyone to go with!" whined Rizu.

"Did you ask Beronika?"

"Yeah, but she's got other plans, none of which concerns dancing."

"You mean to tell me that Beronika turned everybody's favorite boy wizard and it wasn't because of dance? That's a shocker!" remarked Debiddo.

"She's going to Jeison's frat party," said Rizu evenly.

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Deibiddo. "I thought she didn't want anything to do with the guy!"

"Surprise."

"I guess so. What about Megu?"

"She's gonna be at the house too."

"And Keitorin?"

"The last time I checked, she has this role-playing thing going on at another residence hall on Saturday nights with her little circle of friends. They have no use for those campus programs anyway," replied Rizu. "So, I guess that leaves me with you."

"Which I'm not going," said Deibiddo.

"Just what exactly are you going to do?"

"What I do best—write music."

"Deibi, I don't want to go alone!" begged Rizu.

"First off, stop calling me Deibi," began Deibiddo, "and second, have you thought about asking Ami or even Raian? I'm sure they'd go with you."

"I don't have Ami's phone number, and I have no idea which hall Raian lives in," said Rizu.

"You don't need Raian's room number!"

"I don't?"

"No! When you sit at a piano bench almost every night the lounge is available, you get to see many different faces within these walls. I can tell you that Raian comes down here after class during the afternoon and plays a few rounds of billiards, and he has yet to show up today."

"If I see him before the weekend, I'll ask him," said Rizu quietly as Beronika's warning about Raian ran through her mind. "I'll catch you later."

Just as she turned around, she saw Raian and his roommate entering the lounge with a box of billiards balls and a pair of wooden cue sticks in their hands. Raian acknowledged her presence with a nod of his head and said, "Hey, Rizu."

"Hey, Raian," she responded shyly. "Playing billiards?"

"For a bit," replied Raian. "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to do some homework."

"Cool. Hey, were you planning to go to that party at the Student Center this Saturday?" inquired Raian.

"Yeah. I just don't have anybody to take me," answered Rizu.

Raian used both of his hands and pointed at himself as he asked in exasperation, "Why do you think I asked you? For the hell of it?"

"No," snorted Rizu.

"My point exactly."

Rizu tucked a loose curl behind her ear as she replied hesitantly, "I don't know."

"I'll take you out for dinner," offered Raian.

"Where at?"

"My favorite place to eat near campus—The Village Pizzeria. I'll buy."

Rizu could not hold back the grin that was creeping onto her face, and she felt like she was a teenager all over again. Never in a million years had she imagined Raian Daishizenno—her old high school crush—asking her out for dinner, and for a moment, she thought the world stopped turning in the midst of her excitement. _I can't believe it! Raian Daishizenno just asked me out on a date! This has got to be some kind of a dream!_ she screamed in her mind.

Raian arched his right eyebrow, silently prompting Rizu to make a final decision about his offer. Rizu snapped out of her daydream, and with a vigorous nod of her head, she answered, "I'm all for it!"

"Great," said Raian. "Well, I better let you go so you can do that homework."

"Right. We can't keep your roommate waiting either," added Rizu.

"No, we can't. I'll see you around, Rizu."

"Bye."

Rizu watched Raian join his billiards partner at the far right table, and as they were determining who should break the triangular rack of balls at the other end, she ran toward the set of double doors at the entrance of her hall and swiped her identification card through the scanner to unlock them. When she had reached her room after bounding up the staircase with long strides, she found a message from Keitorin on her dry-erase board on the door informing her that she was not planning to return to the room until after Fencing Club.

She unlocked the door and quickly collapsed against it on the other side with a big smile on her face. "Yes!" she squealed.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

A Cloudy Future – Testing Love's Strength!

The weekend arrived in a blur for Rizu. She spent most of her free time doing her homework, and she surprised both her friends and Keitorin that Friday night by writing the first page of the rough draft to her English Literature term paper. Everyone was amazed of her sudden view toward her studies, but no one dared to question it to her face.

Beronika, Megu, Jeison, and Deibiddo stood speechless in the doorway as they watched Rizu sit quietly at her desk with her laptop in front of her. "I can't believe she's doing homework on a Friday night!" remarked Beronika. "Is she sick or something?"

"She looks perfectly fine to me," said Jeison.

"I think she just cracked," suggested Megu. "I mean midterm is next week, you know?"

"Yeah, but on a Friday night?" asked Beronika.

"Stranger things have happened."

"And I consider Rizu giving up her Friday night for homework as strange."

"Strange or not, we ought to let her work in peace," said Deibiddo, reaching over the threshold to close the door.

"Did she ever find somebody to take her to the campus party tomorrow night?" asked Jeison as he began to escort his friends down the corridor toward the direction of Deibiddo's hall.

"I think Raian's going with her," replied Deibiddo. "I heard them talking about it while I was in social lounge the other day, and if I'm not mistaken, he's supposed to be taking her out to dinner too."

"How romantic!" squealed Megu.

"Don't hold your breath," muttered Beronika.

"Still bitter about losing your virtual dance crown to a cute newbie?" teased Jeison.

"Real funny, Jeison," said Beronika. "No, it's more than just that. I can't help thinking about what Rizu told us about Raian and how he and his friends treated her in high school. Something just doesn't seem to add up right. I can see why she's attracted to him, but I'm starting to believe he's just too good to be true."

"Come to think about it, she did jump from Robu to Raian rather quickly," commented Deibiddo.

"My point exactly!" exclaimed Beronika. Turning to Jeison, she added, "If it's all right with you, Jeison I think I'll skip out on the frat party tomorrow."

"Absolutely not!" boomed Jeison. "I'm not letting you get away from a night of fun with me and my brothers just to play Rizu's keeper!"

"But someone needs to keep an eye on Rizu in case Raian pulls a fast one on her!"

"B, relax! Rizu's not a little kid anymore! She can take of herself!" assured Megu.

"Rizu might not be a kid, but she sure has one hell of a heart of glass!" said Beronika as her voice bounced off the stairwell next to the communal washroom.

"You're overanalyzing the whole thing," said Deibiddo, leading the quartet down to the first floor. "You have to remember that Rizu is aware of Raian's companionship with Ami."

"So, why isn't he taking Ami with them if you think this isn't a date?"

"I never said it wasn't a date, but I never said it was one either," elaborated Deibiddo.

"But you know what Rizu's gonna think!"

"I know that, B, but that's just a risk we're gonna have to take. We can only hope Raian won't be toying with her mind tomorrow night."

"You better hope so," mumbled Beronika under her breath.

By sunset the following evening, Raian stood in front of Rizu's door with his right hand ready to knock on the wood. He stilled his wrist just as his knuckles brushed against the hard surface, and he let out a heavy sigh of regret. _Why did I promise I'd take her out for dinner tonight? She probably thinks I'm taking her on a date, _he pondered. _Hell, she probably thinks I'm gonna ask her to be my girlfriend too. Maybe this was a bad idea._

_ No, it's not a bad idea. This is what I need to do. She has to come with me tonight. There's no other choice._

Taking a deep breath, he gathered his courage and knocked three times on the door. As he lowered his arm, he added to himself, _What have I gotten myself into?_

"Raian, is that you?" asked Rizu on the other side.

"Yeah," replied Raian. "How much longer?"

"I'm heading out right now!"

Raian took a step back to allow Rizu enough room for her to lock the door. Turning to him, she gave him a smile and asked, "Ready?"

"Whenever you are," he said, gesturing her to lead him to their destination.

When they arrived at the pizzeria, they were promptly escorted to their booth and wasted no time placing their order with their waitress. As she handed her menu to the blonde woman, she looked across the table and found Raian trying his best not to laugh. "I didn't know you were a vegetarian," she said guiltily. "Had I known, I wouldn't have asked for pepperoni on the whole thing."

Raian chuckled into his lemon-lime soda and said, "It's not a big deal. Not many people would have guessed it right off the bat."

"Do you just not like meat?" asked Rizu

"I liked it when I was growing up," replied Raian. "I used to eat hamburgers and seafood like you wouldn't believe, but then I decided to take up an interest in _rasutafarizumu_ prior to my first year of high school. I had to do an intense fasting to wean myself off of the foods I loved the most: cheeseburgers, squid, sushi, steak, et cetera. The thing that I didn't have to give up was cheese pizza."

"But I thought vegetarians couldn't eat pizza!" said Rizu.

"Are you kidding? Cheese pizza is the way to go if you want to be a vegetarian and you still want some kind of Italian fix!" exclaimed Raian. "It's nothing but dough, pizza sauce, and shredded cheese! With the exception of fruit toppings and pie filling, everything else is strictly meat!"

"I guess I forgot about cheese pizza," mumbled Rizu. "I'm such a _baka_."

"It's okay," said Raian. "You're just lucky I was here when you placed the order. I would hate to go up to the manager and tell him that you changed your mind at the very last minute. Not only would that have embarrassed you, but it would have also made me look like a complete fool."

He paused to take another drink from his glass and then added, "And I don't want to look like a fool when I'm around you."

Rizu felt her face flush, and she fidgeted around in her seat, trying to make herself comfortable after reacting to Raian's comment. "Stop that," she said.

"Stop what?"

"Being all flirty and charming toward me. It's not working."

"Really? Then, why is your face so red?" asked Raian. "I know it's not from the light hitting the tablecloth.

"It's just a windburn," lied Rizu.

"A windburn," snorted Raian. "What are you gonna tell me next? That you're just shy for no reason?"

"Am I being so shy? I'm so sorry!" mocked Rizu.

"Rizu, drop the act," said Raian. "I didn't ask you out tonight to make fun of you. I know you were attracted to me back in the day, but you don't have to deny it. It's only natural to feel some kind of magnetic force coming from that one person who's caught your eye. So, just calm down and be yourself."

"Okay," said Rizu.

"Out of curiosity, have you been interested in anyone since you graduated, besides that other guy I'm competing against."

"You're not competing against Robu! You don't hold a candle to him!" cried Rizu.

"Robu, eh? Can't say that I recall a Robu in high school," remarked Raian dryly. "Actually, I don't think there was a single Robu in either of our graduating classes."

"That's because he didn't attend school with us."

"Does he go to school here?"

"No. He's not from the Kanto region."

"So, if he's not from around here, then how the hell did you meet the guy? The internet?" asked Raian.

"I work for his grandmama in the summer! I thought I told you that!" said Rizu.

"Well, excuse me for forgetting the small details!" retorted Raian. "Now, back to this secret guy of yours, where exactly is he from?"

"Kirugoru," replied Rizu.

"I thought you said he lived near Nagasaki."

"He does."

"So, let me get this straight: I've been replaced by a guy who lives at the foot of the country, and you only get to see him in the summer."

"That's pretty much it."

"And I'm sure you're about to tell me the distance is another reason why he won't date you," said Raian with a smirk.

"It does play a factor, yes," confessed Rizu.

Raian lowered his soda glass and propped his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hands as he settled his gaze on Rizu. "Have you ever thought about dating guys who are within one hundred kilometers from where you live?" he asked.

"I have," sighed Rizu. "They just don't want to date me."

"What about a guy from here?"

"Been there, done that."

"Somehow I'm not convinced."

"I had developed a crush on a classmate toward the end of my first year, but I found out that we were better off being friends, considering he's still going gaga over my old roommate," explained Rizu, rolling her eyes at the memory of Jeison's initial reaction toward Beronika when they first met. "Then, not too long after that, I moved onto another guy. Are you familiar with some of the residents in the building?"

"Only a few," answered Raian.

"What about the guy who uses the black piano to do his composing?"

"The one with brown hair and glasses?"

"Yeah. You saw him the other day when you asked about tonight's shindig at the Student Center."

"What about him?"

"I went on a few dates with him this past winter, but it just didn't work out between us," said Rizu sadly.

"Rizu, I know you were a band geek in school, but I could hardly imagine you falling for a bigger band geek than yourself," chuckled Raian. "From what I know about him, you two are so different."

"But he is good-looking," added Rizu.

"Still, he seems more in love with music than with a live, breathing woman."

"That's why musicians are bound to be single until the day they die. They just can't part from their first love."

The corners of Raian's mouth twitched into a smile, and his green eyes began to twinkle in amusement. "You have no idea just how true that statement is," he jested.

"Well, Deibiddo is just a fine example," said Rizu into her glass. "I wish his future wife the best of luck."

"She'll probably bury the piano with him," said Raian.

"Probably."

"So, what makes this Robu character different from these guys?"

"Robu's the only guy who actually listens to me. Well, I should say he makes some kind of effort to listen to me," began Rizu as she reached up to idly play with her straw. "He's not exactly what you would consider as attractive, but I do find him very handsome in a weird way."

"How so?"

"He's a Gothic nerd."

"I should have known he was a nerd, but I never thought of you as one who goes for the Goths," said Raian.

"I usually don't, but Robu's an exception," continued Rizu. "He's caring, brave, and honest with everyone. There are times when he seems cold and rude, especially when he's criticizing me, but I know him better than that. He's always been looking out for me, and even when he's not around, I know I can always turn to him if I have a problem."

"Does he mean that much to you?"

"Yes," replied Rizu softly. "He'll always have a special place in my heart."

"Do you want to know what I have to say about guys like Robu?"

"What?"

"They're fake," replied Raian. "Chivalrous guys don't exist in the twenty-first century. Girls make them up because of a cherished memory or two whenever they think about a certain guy in their life, and they become oblivious of his true colors. But when he becomes someone completely different from the guy they once knew, they become disillusioned and heartbroken. Their ideal prince is just another frog, and they start to believe that true love is just nothing more than a fairy tale that was planted in their mind since childhood."

"And what gives you the right to think that Robu's a fake!" snapped Rizu.

"Well, if he truly loved you, he wouldn't be making up all these excuses to not date you, no? Hell, we wouldn't be here having dinner together either, considering you'd never dream about cheating on your _boyfriend_."

Rizu felt her control slip, and without thinking twice, she took her drink cup and splashed Raian's face with her cola. Dozens of heads turned toward their booth, and she could hear other customers murmuring to themselves. Even the kitchen staff poked their heads over the counter to see what had happened. "You're such a jerk, Raian Daishizenno!" they heard her scream.

"I might be a jerk, but at least I'm being the realistic one between the two of us," growled Raian as he pushed aside a damp tendril behind his ear. Wiping off the sticky residue from his face, he then asked, "Come to think of it, when was the last time you heard from him?"

"Tuesday when we got back from eating subs," answered Rizu. "He sent me a text to tell me that he got his birthday gifts and that he liked them."

"That was it?"

"Yes."

Raian smirked and leaned against the back of his seat. "It sounds to me that he might have found another girl by now," he said coolly.

Rizu's face fell as his words painted a vivid picture in her mind of Robu holding hands with an unknown woman. She could see his lopsided smile and his brown eyes gazing lovingly at the female next to him, and the sight filled her heart with anguish and hurt. Banishing the image, she said to Raian flatly, "There's no way he's got a girlfriend! He would have told me!"

"Is that so? Are you sure he's not keeping it from you, knowing that it would break your heart if you found out about it?" challenged Raian.

"Look, Raian, I'm sure he has reasons why he hasn't been keeping in touch with me a lot, but give the guy a break! He just started his first year of university!"

"Stop making excuses for him, Rizu. You're only lying to yourself whenever you do that," said Raian.

"I'm not making excuses for him!" hissed Rizu.

Lowering his soda glass onto the table, Raian snorted and said, "I don't know why you get so defensive about this guy. It's not like you slept with him."

He looked back at Rizu and noticed that her face had turned a deep shade of red. At first, he thought that she was about to throw herself across the table and attack him like a hellcat, but when he saw her eyes lowered in guilt, he knew he had struck a sensitive nerve. "You've got to be kidding me!" he breathed.

"One time," said Rizu quietly. "He was my first, but…"

"But what?"

"Something didn't feel right about it. I didn't feel pain or any discomfort like I should have."

Raian blanched and quickly averted his gaze from Rizu. _This isn't good,_ he thought. _Her memories were erased, but the results of her decisions must have been permanent. How am I gonna explain all this to her without walking away with a bloody nose?_

Rizu took notice of his worried expression, thinking that he was anxious to hear the details, and let out a heavy sigh. "I knew I shouldn't have said anything," she muttered.

"No, it's fine," assured Raian.

"No, it's not! You looked like you were about to freak out or something!"

"I'm fine, Rizu! I'm sorry. It's just that my mind has been wandering off lately, and—"

"You can't believe I actually had sex," said Rizu matter-of-factly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me."

"Well, what did you expect me to say? 'Congratulations and welcome to the club'? I knew you as a straight-laced virgin in high school! How can I not to react to something like that? It just totally blew me away!"

"Life after high school can surprise us all," mused Rizu.

"I guess so."

As Rizu took a long sip of what was left of her cola, Raian smirked at her and then asked, "So, was he any good?"

Without missing a beat, dark carbonated water spewed from Rizu's nose, and Raian found himself wearing her drink for the second time that night.

Rizu later followed Raian out of the pizzeria with her gaze fixed to her feet and her head hanging to hide the embarrassment that was evident in her eyes. She had felt people watching her throughout her dinner to see what other temper tantrum she was going to throw next, and she was mortified by her childish behavior. "I am so sorry for ruining our dinner date," she apologized once Raian had closed the door behind her.

"No, I should be the one apologizing to you," insisted Raian. "I had no right to judge Robu when I don't even know him. That was very stupid and careless of me to do so."

"Then, why did you do such a thing?"

"Because, believe it or not, I do worry about you," replied Raian. "It's obvious that you still got a fragile heart, and I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

"You sure have a weird way of showing your concern for others," drawled Rizu.

"Would you prefer if I didn't show an ounce of compassion toward you?"

"No, no!" answered Rizu hastily. "I appreciate your compassion very much! But you didn't need to go and insult Robu like that!"

"I'm just looking out for you, you know?"

"I know, Raian, but I trust Robu with all my life. I've been friends with him long enough to know that he's not one to go out of his way and intentionally hurt me. He's incapable of doing that. He really does have a good heart. Trust me."

Raian smirked at her and asked, "You do know that you sound like you're dating him, no?"

"Well, I—"

"He must really mean a lot to you if you believe he's all what you've said about him," he continued, "and if what you told me is indeed true, then I'm glad you found someone more suitable for you than I could ever be."

"How would you know? You never took a chance!" argued Rizu.

"I didn't take a chance because I knew things would never work out between us!"

_They almost did, though,_ he added to himself.

"But we could have worked it out!"

"No, we couldn't have," said Raian firmly. "We're two different people, Rizu. You're the goody-two shoes, and I'm the cannabis addict. Isn't that why I couldn't date you?"

"Don't you mean to say you _wouldn't_ date me?" retorted Rizu.

"No, I would have dated you, but because of who I was in the school, I couldn't!"

"Does this have anything to do with your so-called reputation?"

"My reputation had nothing to do with it!" shouted Raian.

"Then, what did? Your friends?"

"Look, can we drop the past and talk about the present?" sighed Raian.

"Okay! So, what do you want to talk about?" demanded Rizu.

"Your interest in Robu," replied Raian. "I'm only concerned about it because I don't want you to make the same mistake with him as you did with me. Falling in love with someone is an exhilarating feeling, but it can be a thorn to your rose if your love isn't returned. You fell in love with me, and what happened between us? Nothing! I did nothing except for one thing: I let you down!"

"I know."

"Of course, you'd know! You were the one who suffered while my friends bullied you around! Do you have any idea what it was doing to me on the inside to see you suffer? I wanted to help, Rizu! I really did, but I was scared! I was scared to patch up the mess they made!"

"Because it would have meant making a choice between me and your friends, no?" asked Rizu.

Raian longed to deny her accusation, but he knew that no matter which card he played next, he had no other point to justify himself. Shoving his hands deeper into the pockets of his jacket, he looked away and said, "Yes."

Rizu stepped forward and reached up to turn his head toward her. "Raian," she said to him softly, "I'm grateful that you're concerned about me, but let me make my own mistakes, okay?"

"Rizu—"

"Okay?"

Letting out a snort of resignation, Raian lowered his eyes and muttered, "Okay."

"Thank you," said Rizu, pulling her hand away from his face.

As they crossed the street that ran past the east entrance to the Student Center, Rizu could see a line of students blocking the doors on the other side as they waited for their admission bracelets. "You've got to be kidding me!" she groaned.

"What?" asked Raian.

"It's not even nine o'clock, and there's already a long line!" whined Rizu.

"It looks like they're here for the fortuneteller."

"Fortuneteller?"

"Yeah. Didn't you hear about it?"

"No, not really," answered Rizu.

"Sounds like we're gonna have to make a little visit then," remarked Raian.

"You can't be serious!"

"I am."

Rizu looked back at the crowd and frowned. "I doubt we'll see her," she sighed.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you," said Raian.

When they reached the main entrance to the Student Center, they discovered that the line had extended out past the patio and onto the steps. "Damn! I didn't expect this much of a turnout!" breathed Rizu.

"Well, what did you expect? There are a lot of people at this school who are into wizardry and magic!" said Raian.

"How long do you think we'll have to stand in line?"

"It looks like we've got ourselves a ten-minute wait for our bracelets, maybe fifteen if the program committee doesn't get another person at the table," replied Raian. "Two committee members and a police officer won't cut it."

"And then you have to take a guest into consideration," added Rizu.

"That'll take up some more time just to fill out the paperwork."

Nine o'clock had finally arrived, but Rizu and Raian soon heard some grumbling from the students ahead of them. One of the two program coordinators at the admission table listened to the two-way radio on her leather belt, and she heard her fellow program members checking in with her from their stations. She kept an eye on the time, and after one full minute had passed, all but one station had given the approval to start the night's festivities.

The station that had yet to confirm with her was none other than a student who was assigned to oversee the fortuneteller. When she heard two loud beeps, she grabbed her radio and asked irritably, "Is she here?"

"Not yet," replied the young man on the other line. "She just called to tell us that she's about five minute away from campus."

"Well, it's about time!"

"Yes, but she'll also need another thirty minutes to set up and cleanse her tools."

"Thirty minutes? It's already after nine o'clock, and you expect me to wait over a half-hour just for a stupid fortuneteller? I can't wait that long!" cried the coordinator. "I'm gonna go ahead and let the students in. Just be ready to explain to them the situation, okay?"

"Okay."

Attaching the radio to her belt, she nodded her head to her assistant and the police officer and signaled them to start wrapping admission bracelets around every student's right wrist. Rizu and Raian were relieved to see the line moving at a reasonable pace, but they had to pause several times because of a couple of delays at the table. There were also students, mostly freshmen, who came through both entrances and cut across the line to join their friends, but neither one of the coordinators nor the officer stopped to reprimand them. "I guess some things never change after high school," mused Raian.

"If you ask me, they act like they're still in high school," snorted Rizu.

"They probably couldn't weasel their way into the frat parties tonight."

"Probably. Speaking of which, I better see how Beronika's doing at Jeison's."

Raian quickly grabbed her right hand from reaching into her pocket and held a firm grip on her wrist, applying little pressure in his thumb to lessen her chance to break free. "Leave her be," he said roughly. "I'm sure she's doing okay."

"But—"

"Don't worry about your friends. It's not your responsibility to check up on them, especially while you're in my presence tonight. As long as you're with me, I don't ever want to see you making a phone call to any of them. You got it?"

"Got it," mumbled Rizu.

"Good. Now, we're gonna have a great time, and we're not gonna worry about anyone else but ourselves. It's just you and me, Rizu. You and me."

He released his hold, and Rizu pulled her hand away to nurse the tenderness that was in her wrist. She said nothing as they trudged closer to the table, and once they had reached their destination, they showed the coordinator and her assistant their identification cards as proof of their enrollment with the school. "Good," affirmed the coordinator. "Now, if we could please have your wrists."

Rizu toyed with the thin neon green paper that was wrapped above her yin yang bracelet as she rode the elevator to the second floor, and without looking up, she asked Raian, "Do you think she'll be accurate?"

"I have no idea," answered Raian, "but I do have some words of advice for you: always remain calm. Psychics can pick up energies based on how you are during the reading. Your energy can make a huge impact on the outcome, and if you're not careful, your reading might not be exactly what you wanted to hear. Then again, there times when you don't get what you want to hear no matter how excited or dark your energy is."

"And how would you know this? Have you ever had a reading before?"

"Yes. Ami is an empathic clairvoyant, albeit a novice. She can foresee a little bit into your future based on your emotions, but I find her too sympathetic for my taste."

"What did she tell you?"

Raian continued to stare at his reflection in the door, and even when the car came to a stop, he kept his head up and his gaze forward. "That's another thing you need to know about these readings: you're not supposed to tell anybody about it. It could alter your future," he replied.

"I see," murmured Rizu. "Well, I guess her ability does explain why she seems so spacey when she's giving advice."

"She hates to make the tenderhearted uncomfortable with a straightforward answer, especially if the querent is on a dangerous path at the time of the reading."

"You prefer straightforwardness?"

"Could you really blame me?" returned Raian as he stepped out of the elevator and led Rizu toward the fortuneteller's station.

"I suppose not," said Rizu.

As they drew closer at the end of the hall where the fortuneteller was assigned, they found a group of disappointed freshmen being sent away by a committee member. "I'm sorry, but she's not quite ready," he apologized to them. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait another fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes? I can do better things in fifteen minutes!" snorted a brunette girl. Turning to her friends, she added, "Come on, you guys! There's still some food in the lounge for us to munch on!"

Rizu and Raian said nothing as the group stormed into the stairwell, and they approached the committee member, who was now getting impatient with the fortuneteller's delay. "Excuse me, sir, but is there a waiting list to see the fortuneteller?" asked Rizu.

"I don't know," sighed the committee member. "I'm not sure if we're even gonna open the doors at this rate, which is quite sad."

"Why?" asked Raian.

"This lady is, by far, _the_ best fortuneteller in this part of Japan, or so I've heard."

"You mean you never had a reading done by her?"

"Hey, I don't believe in all that voodoo shit!" said the committee member, throwing up his hands in defense. "Some of the things she practices scares me!"

"What kind of things—" began Rizu.

She was quickly interrupted by a voice from inside the dark room behind the committee member. "Do I have my first client out there?" asked the fortuneteller.

"Yes, Madame Gaburiera!" called the committee member. "Give us a minute!"

He turned to Rizu and Raian and gave them a faint smile. "I guess she would like to see you two first before anyone else," he said with a shrug.

"I'll pass," said Raian.

"Raian!" whined Rizu.

"Relax. You're gonna be all right. Just do what she tells you, okay?"

"Okay."

Rizu slowly entered the room and approached a red privacy curtain that surrounded Madame Gaburiera. She could see the woman's silhouette from the candlelight, and she had a wretched feeling in her stomach that her visit was already predestined. As she reached to pull back the flap, Madame Gaburiera's sweet voice startled her. "Rizu, are you there? I've been expecting you for a long time. Come on in!" she urged.

Rizu pushed the curtain aside and blanched at the woman who was sitting behind a beautiful crystal ball. She had fine blonde hair that hung loosely from beneath a lavender bandana, and her blue eyes twinkled with amusement in the light of the small candle that was on her table. "_Konbanwa,_ Rizu," she greeted.

"Geiburieru?" asked Rizu as she took a closer look of the woman's face.

Madame Gaburiera let out a hearty laugh and shook her head. "No, dear child!" she chuckled. "I'm actually Gaburiera, his twin sister!"

"He never told me he had a twin!"

"Most angels do."

"But there isn't an archangel named Gaburiera! I should know this!" cried Rizu.

"I was chosen to complete the Holy Seven after the first war against Myoujou," explained Gaburiera. "We had lost a brother in exile, a brother in death, and Geiburieru's lover who, as you may have heard, was later tortured and killed. I, along with two other angels, was promoted to fill in one of those three gaps."

"So, why are you here as a fortuneteller? Aren't you gonna get in trouble for revealing the future to these students?" asked Rizu.

"I'm not here to give students a look of their future, nor am I here to show you your definite future," replied Gaburiera. "Shinmei sent me to this school to make sure you intend to stay on the right course in light of his plan for you, and what I can offer you is some advice that could help you in becoming a better Angelic Guardian. But I must warn you that I'm not intending to stick around much longer. Once you leave this room, only you and your friend outside will know that there was indeed a fortuneteller in the building."

"You mean this is an illusion?"

"It's no different than what Geiburieru did in order to secure a job at the library last year."

Gesturing the chair across from her, Gaburiera then said jokingly, "Have a seat. I can't show you the way if you're gonna stand there all night."

She waited until Rizu was seated comfortably in her chair and scooted closer to peer into her crystal ball. "Now, let's have a gander of where you're at, shall we?" she began. "I'll start with your past, considering that's what makes up both our present and our future. I'm quite aware that you didn't have a perfect childhood like most of your classmates. You've been through—what?—three deaths concerning your grandparents?"

"Two grandparents the year after I was born and then Grandpapa Hikarino when I was still a child," elaborated Rizu.

"And, yet, your grandmama from your mama's side is still alive, no?"

"Yes, but I hardly talk to her."

"Because she reminds you so much of your own mama?"

"Yes," replied Rizu.

"It's no wonder I was sensing a strained relationship between you and your family, especially your mama and your sister," mused Gaburiera.

"They're all alike."

"Yes, they are. Now, it seems to me that you didn't have a happy childhood, nor did you have many people to call your friends. I sense a feeling of disappointment and hurt coming from your classmates, and a feeling of loneliness that stemmed from their bullying. And then your best friend… whatever happened between you?"

Rizu felt her body stiffen, and she found herself speechless for a moment. Before she met Robu, she was taken under the wing of a girl she encountered on the way to school at the beginning of her freshman year. The two had become best friends until the girl began to date a fellow classmate who would later become her husband, and somewhere along the way, they lost contact with each other. "I'm not sure," she finally answered. "Something happened, and she stopped talking to me."

"Was it because you were jealous of her?"

"Maybe. All of our friends had boyfriends at the time except for me. I couldn't find anyone that would suit me."

"Not then, but you have now," said Gaburiera with a small smile playing on her lips. "I can see why you like this person who's ruling your heart. Tall, dark, handsome, brown eyes—"

"Robu!" blurted Rizu, blushing profusely in embarrassment.

"Why the red face, Rizu? Are you that ashamed of yourself?" laughed Gaburiera.

"It's just that—"

"I know exactly what you feel for him," assured Gaburiera softly. "I didn't mean to bring him up into the conversation, but there's a reason why I did. Now, you and I both know that he's not the only guy you've fallen for as of late. The other man in question is standing just outside that door, no?"

"Yes, he is," sighed Rizu. "He's—"

"Your former crush? Yes, I know all that too. He's quite a charming fellow, isn't he?"

"Yeah," muttered Rizu.

"Well, I have news for you. There's gonna be a third love in your life within a year's span, and you'll have choose who you want to spend the rest of your life with between these three men. However…"

Rizu leaned closer to the table and prodded, "However?"

"I see a dragon behind the door of one particular lover. He's waiting to consume you, Rizu, and Tamashii as well," continued Gaburiera.

"A dragon?" asked Rizu in disbelief.

"Yes. He's a very dangerous beast, and I fear the man that I know you'll choose in the end is gonna hand you over to him without even knowing."

"What's so dangerous about the dragon?"

"In Jon's revelation, there was a vision of a woman giving birth to child, and the dragon wanted to kill both the child and the woman. It was a miracle that Shinmei prevented their deaths from happening, but I can't guarantee you that it won't happen in this day of age. After all, it was only a vision from long ago, and with that being said, you will bear the Seed of Destruction through the dragon," answered Gaburiera.

"And my soul mate?"

Gaburiera's face fell, and the twinkle in her blue eyes disappeared behind a cloud of sadness. "I'm sorry, Rizu, but I'm afraid the dragon will destroy everything you love, including your soul mate," she said gravely.

Rizu lowered her eyes and shifted in her chair to make herself comfortable beneath the weight that was dropped onto her shoulders. Swallowing thickly, she found her voice and murmured, "I guess I'm better off being single for the rest of my life."

"I'm not done yet," said Gaburiera. "I see a great light at the end of this dark tunnel, and if you play your cards correctly, you can win back all that you've lost."

"So, does that mean we'll win the war?" asked Rizu.

"The _seisho_ says we do, but it's all in your hands. Only you can decide who'll be the winner," replied Gaburiera. "Now, Rizu, I want you to do me a favor. When you leave this room, pretend that none of this ever happened. Make yourself forget what you just heard from my lips. Don't try and attempt to change the course of your future for what you think is the best. Just go with the flow, okay?"

"Okay."

"And one last thing: don't worry about Robu. I know you were questioning about him tonight, but he hasn't forgotten you at all. He's just been extremely busy as of late thanks to Myoujou."

"Is he okay?" asked Rizu.

"He's doing okay, but it's not easy for him to fight demons without you by his side."

"There's got to be something I can do! I can't wait until summer knowing that he might be getting his ass kicked by Myoujou!" cried Rizu.

"You won't have to. You'll see him again in the very near future," promised Gaburiera.

"But that's impossible! He's stuck in Kirugoru!"

Gaburiera leaned over her crystal ball and whispered, "With Shinmei, all things are possible. Now, go."

Outside in the hallway, Raian waited patiently along the wall across the entrance to Gaburiera's station. He heard the sound of Rizu stepping out from behind the heavy curtain, and he took notice of the neutral expression that was etched on her face when she joined him in front of the west stairwell. "Well?" he asked.

"I heard what I needed to hear," she replied.

"Good or bad?"

"Both, but as long as I continue to make the right choice, I should be fine."

"See? I told you everything was gonna be okay."

_For now, at least,_ thought Rizu.

She then turned to the committee member at the doorway and asked, "Is Madame Gaburiera still here?"

"Madame Gaburiera? There's no Madame Gaburiera," said the committee member.

"But aren't you supposed to be responsible for tonight's fortuneteller event?"

"Miss, there is no fortuneteller event tonight," answered the committee member. "You can look in this room all you want, but I can guarantee you there is no fortuneteller."

Rizu looked over the young man's shoulder and saw that Gaburiera's station had disappeared into thin air. All that was left in the room where the red curtain once hung was an empty space. "She wasn't kidding," she said aloud to herself.

Raian reached out and grabbed her by the right wrist, gently pulling her away from the doorway. "I think it's time for us to leave," he suggested.

Rizu turned back to the empty room one last time and nodded her head in agreement. Without saying another word, she followed Raian down the stairs to the hotel lobby below them, but her mind kept going back to Gaburiera's interpretation of her future and how uncomfortable she felt concerning her love life. _Three lovers, a dragon, and a baby,_ she pondered. _Can my life not get any more fucked up than it already is?_


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

The Bridge between the Past and the Present – Jeison's Suspicion!

Myoujou lazily drummed the long nails of his right claw against the crystal arm of his throne as he used his free hand to massage his temple with gentle circular motions. After waiting two weeks to determine the whereabouts of the fourth crystal, he acquired a headache and attributed it to Medosa's waywardness. "Trust a Gorgon to waste my time with all these delays," he groaned under his breath.

A pair of scaly hands reached out from behind the throne and began to massage both sides of his head to ease the aching pain. Myoujou forced himself to resist the temptation of falling into her touch, but he let out a satisfied snarl from the back of his throat and closed his eyes as Medosa continued her ministrations. "What's that about Gorgons wasting your time?" she hissed softly.

"Have you found the location of the next crystal?" asked Myoujou, cleverly sidestepping the question.

"I have an idea where it _could_ be," began Medosa.

Before she could say another word, Myoujou snatched her hands and tightened his grip. "Then, you should know why I have such a headache!" he growled.

Using his monstrous strength, he pulled Medosa over his head and threw her onto her back where she landed at the foot of his throne with a loud thud. He then rose to his feet and extended out his charred wings that reminded her of those on a giant bat. "I hired you to track down those crystals as quickly as possible!" he seethed as his black eyes turned a deep shade of red.

"I'm doing the best I can!" insisted Medosa, struggling to keep her face hidden beneath her hood. "But, Myoujou, I've told you before that Shinmei is in control of the crystals. Only he can reveal to us—"

"Don't say another word!"

Myoujou took three steps forward, but he kept his cold gaze fixed on the trembling Gorgon before him. "Do you know why I'm interested in those crystals and the Gates of Pandemonium, Medosa?" he questioned. "When I open the gates, I will release chaos and destruction into the world, and everyone who believes in Shinmei will expect him to be their savior once again. But that's just it: Shinmei won't do such a thing if it's not part of what was written by the apostle! You see, I intend to make the apostle's revelation nothing more than Shinmei's long-time propaganda to fool man, and by having those crystals, I will prove to the world that everything concerning Shinmei—including the return of his Son—is a big fat hoax! The apostle never mentioned anything about the Gates of Pandemonium, and that, Medosa, is what I believe will put us one step ahead of the end of times! The gates will be our key to silence the prophecy forever!"

"But, Myoujou, I've given you the other three crystals! Aren't you at least satisfied with my progress?" asked Medosa.

"I'd more satisfied if I had all five crystals in my possession right now!" roared Myoujou.

"And you will! As long as the Angelic Guardians refuse to work together as a team, we'll be able to snatch the last two from under their noses!" assured Medosa.

Her blubbering was silenced by the sound of an ice shard crashing against the frozen surface of Lake Cocytus, and she looked up to find Myoujou standing with his right palm out and a small trace of smoke lingering around it. "Then, what are you waiting for? Go get me the next crystal, you pathetic excuse of a snake!" he bellowed.

"But, Myoujou, I don't know for sure where it's located!" protested Medosa.

"Then, force it out!"

"Yes, Myoujou!"

In a blink of an eye, Medosa vanished from the ninth ring, and Myoujou collapsed into his throne with a heavy sigh. Returning to his task at hand, he shut his eyes and snarled aloud to himself, "Why, Shinmei, must you torment me like this?"

Rizu and her friends stood outside Dr. Cook-Ikeda's office and stared blankly at the updated class roster that included the students' midterm grade. After spending hours studying for the test, Rizu felt disappointed with the outcome. "D?" she asked in disbelief. "I got a D?"

"At least you passed," remarked Jeison.

"But I studied my ass off! I read every story we covered three times, I went to all the study sessions at the library, and this is what I get?"

"Perhaps you didn't study hard enough," said Beronika dryly. "There's a difference between reading the material and _knowing_ the material. You didn't happen to use the same words that were printed in your book, did you?"

"Maybe," replied Rizu.

"No wonder you got a D!" said Megu. "You should have answered the questions using your own words!"

"But no matter how I answer the questions, I still get pointed docked off for what she thinks is poor sentence structure!" complained Rizu. "What am I do, you guys? I have to pass this class with something higher than a D, or else Mama is gonna kill me!"

"You could always retake those introductory courses," suggested Deibiddo.

Rizu glowered at him and spat, "I'm not planning to be in university any longer than I have to!"

"Do you want a decent career or not?"

"I don't know what I want!" sighed Rizu as she flopped down onto the set of iron steps that led to another cluster of offices on the upper level.

"Look, Rizu, you're not gonna get hired if you keep walking away with D's," continued Deibiddo. "Hell, you'd be lucky if employers take you in with a C-average!"

"And besides, you need to pass the competency exam in your department to prove that you are worthy to graduate with a degree in English," added Beronika.

"Must you guys remind me?" grumbled Rizu.

"We're only saying this because we care," said Megu.

"Thanks, but I'm better off trying to stay alive in this class rather than trying to achieve the unobtainable. There is no way I'm gonna get a C with this woman."

"Stop being such a doubter, Rizu!" scolded Jeison. "Maybe if you asked your professor for some help—"

He was suddenly cut off by Dr. Cook-Ikeda's shrill voice from the other side of her door, and the quintet listened to her belittling one of Rizu's classmates who had scored poorly on the midterm. They peered through the steps and saw two silhouettes inside the room. One shadow paced back and forth in front of what appeared to be a young man with his head hanging in shame, and Rizu could not help but imagine the painful insult that being thrown at the student. "I can't believe you failed my exam!" she heard Dr. Cook-Ikeda screeched. "You are a disgrace to the department and an embarrassment to my classroom! I cannot—no! I will _not_ let this continue!"

"But _sensei_—"

"Silence!" snapped Dr. Cook-Ikeda. "I want you to go to the departmental office first thing tomorrow morning and ask for a drop-out application for this class! I refuse to let your poor performance reflect on my teaching! I've spent over ten years educating incompetent students like you, and I've busted my ass to help them reach their greatest potential! But I refuse to bend over backward to help students who don't ask for it! I hate to waste time, and you're wasting mine! Now, go! Get out of my sight!"

The doorknob turned, and the quintet pretended to be interested in a discussion about their midterms as the young man passed them. When he at last disappeared into the adjacent hallway and out of earshot, Rizu turned to Jeison and snorted, "And you still expect me to ask her for help?"

"Maybe a D in English Literature won't matter in the work force," answered Jeison.

"Jeison!" admonished Beronika.

"Come on, B! Didn't you see what happened to that kid? Rizu's lucky that wasn't her getting reamed!"

"Poor guy," murmured Megu. "I feel awfully bad for him."

"At least he's getting out of the class," said Rizu.

"I don't blame him. I mean if Dr. Cook-Ikeda forced me to withdraw, I wouldn't wait until tomorrow! I'd do it now!" said Deibiddo.

"I wonder why he failed," pondered Beronika.

"That's easy: he never attended any of the study sessions in the library, and I doubt he studied at home too," replied Rizu.

"That would explain why you got the higher grade and he didn't," said Megu.

"Barely."

They exited out of the Kenji Oukan Building from the south entrance where they were greeted the sound of crisp leaves rustling along the sidewalk. As they walked by a tall black structure that reminded them of a flyswatter, they saw a white banner at the top and took notice of the advertisement for the big campus event later that evening. "Are you guys planning to go to the Autumn Festival tonight?" asked Megu.

"Maybe," replied Beronika. "What's it about anyway?"

"The Autumn Festival was originally a longtime local celebration honoring the _kami_ of the rice harvest," began Jeison, "but sometime after the last World War, the Americans introduced the government to something called separation of Church and State."

"Church and State? What's that?" asked Rizu.

"Church and State is generally the abolishment of religion from public settings such as courthouses and educational institutions," explained Jeison. "The Americans did that because there were people who didn't believe in—what do they call Shinmei over there?—ah, yes, God! Anyway, there was a group of people who didn't believe in God and felt offended by seeing all these religious displays in public outside of the church. That and there were also parents from this group who didn't want the Word to be taught to their children at school. So, to please these nonbelievers, the government took away the right to hold prayer at the start of the school hour, to teach the Word in the school, and they forced all these courthouses to take down any display of the Ten Commandments.

"A similar incident happened here after the Second World War, and the Americans encouraged the Japanese government to enforce the separation of Church and State mainly to prevent another rise of a megalomaniac emperor and possibly a third World War. So, we followed suit, and now you know why we weren't allowed to learn more about _kirisutokyo_, Shinto, and all these religions in school."

"Not only were the schools forbidden to teach religion to minors, all ancient religious rites in public were also prohibited, which is why Oukan University had to change its purpose for the Autumn Festival," continued Megu. "If we didn't and the government found out that we continued to celebrate our Shinto roots during an open community event, we would either lose funding or possible be forced to shut down all because we went against the law."

"So, if we're not celebrating Shinto, then what are we celebrating?" asked Rizu.

"The memory of the Oukan brothers and all they've done for the betterment of the school and the city. But we're nothing like the celebrating that's going on in downtown tonight. The adults make it more of a wild party with unlimited rounds of _sake_ on every street corner. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people go home drunk and, occasionally, topless."

That purpose is now to honor the Oukan brothers. We tend to think of it as a celebration of their achievements for what they've done for both the school and the city," continued Megu. "But the adults like to take it one step further in downtown Oukan. They make it more of a wild party with unlimited rounds of _sake_ on every corner, and many people go home drunk and sometimes topless."

"Oh my!" gasped Beronika.

"I'm telling you, it's a real party, but don't be surprised if you see families and minors coming by the campus tonight. We like to keep it alcohol-free," said Jeison.

"Besides rice, what else is the festival known for?" asked Rizu.

"We usually have traditional _geisha_ dancers and the local festival drummers for entertainment, food vendors from small businesses in the Village, a few tents with homemade jewelry for sale, and lots of carnival booths operated by the Greek community."

"Does this mean your fraternity brothers and sorority sisters are going to be there?" inquired Deibiddo.

"Without a doubt," replied Megu.

"But we didn't sign up to watch over the games," added Jeison. "We thought it would be cool if we checked out the festival ourselves. Are you guys up for it?"

"Sure!" said Rizu, Beronika, and Deibiddo.

That evening, Rizu pulled out her favorite cherry blossom kimono from her armoire and slipped the silk robe over her shoulders. After securing a white belt below her breasts, she turned to the full mirror that was mounted behind the right door to inspect the final touch-ups to her appearance. She had pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, and although her curls were neatly in place, she clipped a white cherry blossom barrette to the left side of her head.

Keitorin sat at her computer desk and looked over her shoulder as Rizu shut her armoire door. "I take it you're going to the festival," she said.

"Yeah. The gang and I want to check it out," replied Rizu.

"The gang, huh? Does that include Deibiddo?"

Rizu had opened her mouth to tease Keitorin when she heard someone knocking on the door. She reached around her armoire for the doorknob and discovered Deibiddo standing on the other side of the threshold in a white kimono and a black belt. "Are you almost done?" he asked Rizu.

"As soon as I get my sandals," she answered. "Where are the others?"

"They're downstairs in the social lounge. Raian and Ami are coming with us too," said Deibiddo.

"Raian and Ami? Who invited them?"

"I'm not quite sure, to be honest. Megu was the one who invited Ami, but Ami asked her if Raian could come too."

"That explains everything."

Fastening her sandals over her socks, Rizu then said, "Okay, I think I'm ready. I just need to fetch my keys."

"Don't worry about them, Rizu," assured Keitorin. "I plan to be here all night. Just knock when you get back in case the door is locked. I might be going to bed early."

"But what about the night shift? Won't I need my identification card to get inside?" asked Rizu.

"I'm not planning to stay until midnight, so I'm not taking mine," announced Deibiddo.

"Very well. I'll see you later, Keitorin!"

"Have a good time," returned Keitorin.

Rizu nodded her head in reply and closed the door behind her. As she escorted Deibiddo down the hallway past the kitchenette and her residence hall assistant's room, she heard him say, "You never did tell me about your date with Raian. How did it go?"

"It was okay," she answered with a shrug.

"Okay? You mean your old dream-boy wasn't all he cracked up to be?"

"He pissed me off," muttered Rizu.

"How so?"

"He insulted Robu!"

"He what?" exclaimed Deibiddo. "Rizu, you went on a date with another guy! Why on earth did you bring up Robu into discussion?"

"I didn't bring him up! Raian did!" insisted Rizu. "He wanted to know if I've been with another guy since high school!"

"You told him about Robu before the date?" asked Deibiddo.

"Yeah."

"You didn't happen to mention anything about me and Jeison to him, did you?"

"I might have," said Rizu coolly.

Deibiddo let out a heavy sigh and remarked as they began to climb down the stairwell to the first floor, "You do know that you might have given him the impression that you've been a closet whore after all this time."

Rizu stopped in her tracks and punched Deibiddo hard in the arm. "Ow!" he cried.

"Serves you right!" she screamed.

"But you didn't have to hit me like that!"

"You didn't have to call me a whore either!" shot back Rizu. "And you're my friend? Thanks for the support!"

"Hey, that would have been my first impression of you if it were me instead of Raian!" said Deibiddo in defense.

When they entered the social lounge, they found Beronika, Megu, Jeison, Ami, and Raian hanging around outside the door to the assistant hall director's office in their respective kimonos. Rizu cast a glance at Raian, who was standing off to the side next to Ami, and noticed that they were nearly brushing hands with each other. _Funny. I could have sworn Ami had a boyfriend,_ she pondered.

"Well, now that Rizu has finally decided to join us, shouldn't be we heading to the festival?" asked Beronika.

"Please say we're not gonna walk over there!" begged Jeison.

"Unless there's a way for you to stuff all seven of us into your SUV, we're going by foot," said Megu.

"But these sandals hurt my feet! And I just got them this afternoon!"

"Jeison, I swear you're such a drama king!" sighed Beronika in exasperation as she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Come on, guys! We're wasting enough time as it is! Let's go!" ordered Deibiddo.

Jeison was the last person to follow the group out of the building, but as he took a step forward, he winced from the throbbing pain in his right foot. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he whimpered.

"That's it!" hissed Megu. "Give me those sandals!"

"What are you gonna do?" demanded Jeison.

"I'm gonna break them in for you myself! Now, hand them over!"

Jeison had barely slipped out of his sandals when Megu's hand swooped down and snatched them in one swipe. Taking one flat shoe into her hands, she bent it over her right thigh and pushed into it using her palms. She did the same to its twin and handed the sandals over to their rightful owner. "There! That should do the trick!" she huffed.

Jeison frowned when he saw what his little cousin did to his sandals. She had created a horizontal crease in the middle of the soles where she had bent them, and the pair had immediately lost their "like new" look. "I spent twenty yen on these sandals!" he whined.

"And I refuse to hear you bitching about blisters for another twenty minutes!" snapped Megu. "Now, put those sandals on, and let's catch up with the others! We've got a festival to attend!"

The group approached the quad several minutes later and was amazed by the breathtaking scene the Oukan Program Committee, the fraternities, and the sororities put together in less than twenty-four hours. Every inch of the courtyard was taken up by a variety of booths, and paper lanterns were strewn across the trees that were planted in the middle of the lawn. The scent of steamed seafood and rice-based treats filled the air, and a group of family-friendly _geisha_ dancers performed on the steps of the art museum as students and families happily ate their sample trays of _dango_.

"Wow! This looks amazing!" said Beronika. "There must be over a thousand people here!"

"More than likely," replied Jeison. "The Autumn Festival tends to draw in big crowds whenever we have the money to host it and if the weather has been favorable during the monsoon season for the farmers."

"What do farmers have anything to do with it?" asked Rizu.

"All the food vendors you'll see tonight are farming families who specialize in rice harvesting," explained Ami. "The amount of rice they bring in at this time of the monsoon season will determine if there'll be enough for the Autumn Festival. Last year, the rains were so horrible in parts of the Kanto region that the government declared a rice shortage throughout this part of the country."

"Now that you mentioned it, I do recall sushi being served in rations," remarked Rizu.

"At least it was temporary," grinned Ami.

"I can see why a lot of people prefer to come to this festival instead of the one downtown," said Deibiddo. "It's much more relaxing, and no free _sake_ everywhere you turn. This is how all Japanese festivals should be."

"They used to be until the Americans dazzled us with their glam and flair," sighed Megu.

"You guys certainly like to blame the Americans for everything that goes wrong around here, don't you?" commented Rizu.

"We were fine until they pushed us to be more like them. This is why we try to keep the Autumn Festival Western-free as much as possible. We like to preserve the simplicity and the tradition alive in the modern world."

"Well, where should we go first?" asked Beronika.

Rizu sniffed the air and began to walk toward the administration building where a young farmer and his wife were serving small carry-out trays of fresh _mitarashi dango_. "A place with some good food!" she replied. "I'm starving!"

"Me too!" agreed Megu, following close behind with Deibiddo.

Jeison turned to Raian and Ami and asked, "Are you two coming?"

"You guys go ahead," insisted Ami. "We'll find something for ourselves."

"Are you sure? I don't want anything to happen to you."

Beronika tugged at Jeison's hand and began to pull on him. "Don't worry about her, Jeison! She's got Raian with her!" she said.

"But—"

"She's a big girl! You can't spend all your life watching over your little cousin!"

"Fine," growled Jeison.

Raian and Ami watched with amusement as Beronika continued to drag Jeison behind her. "They certainly make a cute couple, even though they won't admit it," chuckled Raian.

"They'll be together. They just don't know it yet," said Ami.

Raian agreed with a nod of his head and then turned his attention to the Pillar Garden off in the distance across the law. He felt a strange aura radiating from the far right pillar, which was dedicated to Shiro Oukan, and he instinctively knew an evil force was lurking around in the shadows. Narrowing his eyes at the pillar, he asked aloud, "The fourth crystal would be dedicated to the fourth son, no?"

"I imagine so," answered Ami. "Why do you say that?"

Raian then shifted his gaze toward the direction of the two tall smokestacks beyond the Saburo Oukan Gymnasium where the Shiro Oukan Building was located. "I've a feeling Myoujou will be on the move again in the near future," he drawled.

Meanwhile, Rizu continued to devour skewer after skewer of homemade _mitarashi dango_ while her friends took their time nibbling on the round dough balls. "I'm telling you this stuff is great!" she said in between bites.

"And I'm telling you it's not proper to eat with your mouth full, nor is it ladylike!" retorted Jeison.

"Come on, you guys! You don't know how to enjoy good _dango_!"

"I would if I had an appetite, but I think I lost it when you turned into a pig," grimaced Beronika. "Are you almost done?"

Rizu reached into her tray and pulled out the last skewer. Shoving the five dough balls into her mouth, she gnashed them against her teeth until they were nothing but mush for her to easily swallow. "Done!" she declared as she tossed the skewer and the tray into a nearby trashcan.

"Gross!" groaned her friends.

As they passed several booths along the north entrance to the administration office, Rizu noticed Raian and Ami standing before the pillars in deep concentration. "Hey, what's up with them? I thought they were off to get a bite to eat!" she said.

"They probably saw you eat your _dango_ like a wild animal and got sick from it," teased Megu.

"Real funny."

Jeison narrowed his eyes at the duo, but before he could speak, Deibiddo interrupted him and answered, "Leave them alone, you guys. They're not hurting anything. Besides, we still got some games to play."

"I guess," murmured Rizu.

Everyone started to walk further along the quad, but Jeison stood still and kept his gaze fixed on his cousin and her companion. He did not like the intense gleam in their eyes, and he grew suspicious about their curiosity. _Who in their right mind would check out the pillars at a time like this?_ he pondered. _Don't they know we've got a festival going on here?_

He took a step forward, but Beronika snatched him by the arm and pulled him toward her. "Jeison, let's go!" she said.

"I'm coming!" grumbled Jeison.

At the gymnasium, many of the school's fraternity and sorority groups had set up game booths featuring classic carnival games, mostly featuring goldfish and small carp. Megu found her sorority sisters at their ping-pong toss booth and invited her friends to play one round. Everyone tried to throw their three white plastic balls into one of the many fishbowls, but they hit the rim each time.

After watching his last ball bounce off to the side, Jeison turned his head and discovered his fraternity brothers operating a skills game using bright-colored carp. "I still can't believe we voted on doing a fishing game," he said in disbelief.

"Looks easy to me," said Deibiddo.

"It's harder than you think," assured Jeison. "You have to use paper nets to toss the carp into your bucket. The more wet your net is, the less chance you'll catch a carp."

"So, is this contest or something," asked Rizu.

"It's more of a race against the clock. You have one minute to fill your bucket with the carp before time expires. If your net breaks, the game is over. You want to give it a shot?"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm too much of a klutz," said Rizu.

"Hey, Jeison, why don't you show us how it's done?" suggested Megu.

"I think I will. After all, I'm the master of fishing with a paper net!" boasted Jeison.

"If you don't mind, big cousin, I'd like to try it out with you."

Jeison looked over his right shoulder and saw Ami approaching him. "You want to compete against a pro? You're crazy!" he scoffed.

"I'm not as crazy as you think," said Ami.

"Prove it."

"I will."

As Jeison and Ami walked up to the booth to exchange their yen for a paper net, Rizu spotted Raian standing next to her with a smug look on his face. "Why are you smiling about?" she asked.

"I'm not smiling. I'm just holding back my laughter," he replied.

"You think Jeison's gonna lose, don't you?"

"I know he's gonna lose. I have enough faith in Ami to not doubt her ability."

"Ability?"

"Not only is she a clairvoyant, but she can also convey messages to fish with just one look," explained Raian as he watched Ami kneel in front the tank. "I wouldn't be surprise if she's doing that right now."

"But isn't that the same as cheating?" cried Rizu.

"Who says that using telepathy is cheating? Only the person using it knows what's going on. Now, unless you want to continue to make a big production in front of everyone, let Ami do her thing and keep quiet."

Rizu scowled at Raian, but instead of arguing with him, she turned her attention to Ami and waited for her to make her first move. _I wonder if this is gonna work,_ she thought.

Ami closed her eyes and pictured the carp in her mind. She tightened her grip on the pink handle of her net, and snapping her head up, she skimmed along the surface of the water as a carp leaped into the air and quickly scooped it into the bottom of her blue bucket.

"Whoa! Did she really do that?" breathed Rizu.

"Amazing! I've never seen her do anything like that before!" exclaimed Megu.

Another fish broke through the surface, and Ami using the same technique. Soon, more carp landed in her bucket, and after time had expired, she had it filled all the way to the top. Several spectators watched her amazing performance and applauded her for a job well done.

"You think you can beat her, Ankokuno?" challenged one of Jeison's fraternity brothers.

"You bet I can!" snorted Jeison.

He took his net and skimmed the water as a fish jumped out, but as he tilted his wrist to collect it, the fish landed in the middle of the net, saturated it, and broke through the paper where it landed in the tank with a splash.

Jeison felt his face turn red, and he could hear his brothers sniggering under their breaths. Looking down at the broken net, he let out a wear sigh and threw it aside over his left shoulder. "I guess I'm not much of a master like I used to be," he said.

"It's okay, Jeison. I'm sure there'll be other times," said Beronika soothingly.

"Thanks, B."

"You guys want to chill on the green and watch the Drums of Oukan before we head back?" asked Deibiddo. Checking his wristwatch, he added, "Rizu and I have to be at our complex before the night staff arrives."

"Sure!" answered Rizu, Beronika, Megu, and Jeison.

Raian, however, shook his head and said, "I think Ami and I will pass. She's not one for loud drumming, and I'm getting kinda bored anyway."

"And we've seen all that we needed to see," continued Ami. "Don't get us wrong—we did have a good time."

"But we still got a few things to take care of before we go to bed. I hope you all don't mind our early departure."

"Not at all," said Rizu. "_Konbanwa!_"

"_Konbanwa!_"

Beronika caught Jeison starting at their retreating forms, and she sighed in exasperation to grab his attention. "This is the third time I've seen you acting strange tonight! What's going on?" she demanded.

"I'm starting to get a bad feeling about them," he replied.

"Oh, will you give up? There's nothing suspicious about them!"

"Yeah, Jeison! Ami has no intimate feelings for Raian!" piped up Megu.

"It's not that," said Jeison. "It's something I've been sensing every time I see them together, and I don't like it one bit."

"Will you just relax?" chuckled Deibiddo. "Let's go and enjoy the rest of the festival! That ought to make you feel better!"

"Fine, but after tonight, I'm gonna see what's up with them!"

Peering around the corner of the gymnasium, Medosa watched the quintet make their way toward the art museum and hissed with satisfaction. "So, the next crystal is on the move," she purred. "This ought to make Myoujou happy."

She turned to the Shiro Oukan Building behind her and smirked beneath her hood. "Too bad _I'm_ the one collecting his precious crystals!" she added.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

Down the Rabbit Hole – On'ai's Message to Tamashii!

When Rizu stepped inside her room after brushing her teeth in the communal washroom, she found Keitorin fast asleep and took notice of her desk lamp that was left on to serve as a nightlight. She smiled to herself as she hung her kimono inside her armoire and thought that maybe rooming with Keitorin was not a bad idea after all. _At least she was thoughtful enough to give me some light while I was out,_ she mused silently.

She climbed up the small ladder at the foot of her elevated bed and reached across her pillow to turn off her touch-lamp. The room plunged into darkness, and she snuggled under her comforter to stay warm throughout the night. The conclusion of the Autumn Festival marked the advent of the end of the harvest season, and the evening temperatures were expected to be cold with a chance of frost by sunrise.

Rizu closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep shortly after. She found herself running through the dream world as Tamashii, leaving behind imprints of her boots in the snow. A silhouette of a certain black wolf ran ahead of her in the distance, and she raced after it to see if it was going to lead her to Seijitsu. The shadow soon took the form of Seiji, and he increased his speed with each passing second.

Tamashii wheezed heavily and tried to catch up with him, but she felt her heart begin to give way out of exhaustion. Forcing herself to slow down, she fell to her knees and cried out as loud as she could despite of her hoarse voice. "Seiji!" she called. "Seiji, stop running! Seiji! Seiji, will you please stop?"

The wolf halted his sprint as he came to the edge of the lake by Tamashii's willow tree. He looked back at his mistress without a hint of emotion in his black eyes, and Tamashii immediately knew something about him was not right. _This isn't like Seiji to run away from me,_ she thought. _What's going on? What's wrong with him?_

Suddenly, Seiji shifted into another form, and Tamashii watched the wolf change into the mysterious _senshi_ who invaded her dream world months before. Furious that he tricked her, she climbed onto her feet and approached him with a look that was as cold as the world around her. "How dare you to do such a thing to me!" she spat.

"I did no such a thing. You willed your mind to believe I was Seiji. These things happen frequently in dream worlds," said the _senshi_.

"Get out!" seethed Tamashii as she summoned her crossbow and took aim at her target.

"Or what? You're gonna shoot me with your pretty little arrow?"

"I SAID GET OUT!"

"You don't have it in you, silly girl!" taunted the _senshi_. "You know that I'm neither your enemy nor a spy for Myoujou, and I can guarantee you my death will be hanging over your head if you choose to let go of that string. So, if I were you, Tamashii, I'd put away your toys before you hurt somebody. Wouldn't that be such a pity?"

Tamashii kept her steel gaze fixed on the _senshi_ as her crossbow disappeared, but she refused to soften her harsh expression. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I think you already know the answer," purred the _senshi_.

The heavy green cloak fell to his feet, and Tamashii's eyes grew wide with a mixture of surprise and fear. Standing before her in his Angelic Guardian attire was On'ai with his arms crossed over his chest and his lips curled into a smirk. "You!" she shrieked. "It was you all along, wasn't it, On'ai? What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you, but I do have something you've been searching for ever since Geiburieru told you of my existence. Something that might be the answer to your pressing questions," answered On'ai. "I didn't come here just to look for the crystals and stop Myoujou from summoning the Gates of Pandemonium. Had it been so, Waraku and I would have gladly accepted your offer to help with our search, but there was a reason why we had to distance ourselves from you, why we kept telling you to stay away."

"Besides the fact that your so-called mission could cost me my life?" snorted Tamashii.

"That was an excuse to get you and the others off our backs. After Waraku told me about your friends corralling the centaur to his doom, we knew the five of you were truly capable of fighting any demon of great strength," said On'ai. "The truth is I am the catalyst of your undoing. My presence could trigger the slightest hint of our past alliance prematurely, and that was a risk I didn't want to take. The time had to be right for you to understand my personal mission, one that is outside of my assignment from Shinmei."

"Your personal mission?"

"Yes."

A piece of Tamashii's pink quartz crystal appeared in On'ai's right hand, and he held up the shard for her to see. "I came here to give you back your memories," he finished.

The dream world fell silent around the two Angelic Guardians, and the wind stopped howling through the frozen braches. Tamashii stood speechless as she stared at the shard. "My memories?" she asked softly.

"Everything you know about our time in high school has been altered with what would have happened had we not been Chosen Ones," continued On'ai. "What you know of the past is really a handful of your nightmares to replace anything and everything relating to you as being Tamashii. Even the people we loved suffered a slight memory loss. Not that they knew your secret identity, but they identified you with me outside of battle."

"Just who are you?" whispered Tamashii.

"Why don't you take a look for yourself?" returned On'ai, gesturing to the frozen lake behind him.

The icy surface thawed and liquefied as Tamashii drew close to the edge. She saw her reflection in the water, but when she blinked from having a lone snowflake fallen on her right eye, she was staring instead at an image of her at the age of fifteen, the age when she was first called into battle. _Has it been really five years?_ she wondered.

Her reflection was then replaced with a scene of one of her first demon battles at Roganu Junior & Senior High School. She watched her younger self fighting a snake-like demon in what appeared to be her old biology laboratory, and the demon had used its strong tail to pin her against the wall with just a flick. As it raised its left arm to strike her with its claws, a blast of sharp rose petals attacked it from behind.

Her rescuer was none other than a teenage version of On'ai, and Tamashii instantly recognized him despite of having shorter hair that reached the length of his earlobes. _No! That can't be him!_ she thought.

She began to tremble when she took a closer peak at On'ai, and the intense look in his emerald eyes confirmed her fear. Moving away from the water, she hunched over into the snow and vomited all the bile that she had accumulated in her body the moment she laid eyes on On'ai's image. The very sight of him made her stomach churn, and she wrapped her arms around her belly as she waited for her nerves to settle down. Once her head was clear and free from nausea, she looked up and met a familiar pair of green orbs that was now haunting her in the back of her mind. "Raian Daishizenno," she breathed. "You've been On'ai the entire time, haven't you?"

.

Geiburieru was sitting at his desk inside the quiet comfort of his office the following morning when he heard one of his colleagues scolding Rizu for trespassing, but she brushed off the irate man and walked into the archangel's domain, slamming the door hard behind her. Just as she began to approach him, the librarian threw open the door with a loud bang and screamed, "You insolent chit! How dare you show disrespect in this building! I ought to—"

"That'll be enough!" admonished Geiburieru. "There's no need to be hostile toward the girl."

"But she stepped behind the circulation desk without permission!"

"I'll handle her punishment. Now, go."

The librarian rolled his eyes in exasperation and pulled the door shut to give Rizu and Geiburieru privacy. They soon heard his voice bouncing off the walls as he hollered to himself, "Students!"

Geiburieru looked at Rizu with a neutral expression on his face and said, "I take it On'ai followed through with his assignment last night," he said dryly.

"You knew, didn't you?" hissed Rizu.

"Knew what?"

"The truth about Raian and On'ai! Why didn't you tell me they were the same person!" demanded Rizu.

"It was not my place to reveal Raian's secret to you. That was his responsibility," replied Geiburieru.

"Well, you could have at least warned me!"

"Rizu, I couldn't tell you a single word about Raian or On'ai if I wanted to. I'm under strict orders to never ever reveal the identity of an Angelic Guardian to anyone, including you. They either have to tell you themselves or you have to find out on your own, but I can't disclose such information. It would put everyone's lives in jeopardy if I did, and Myoujou would end up with the upper hand."

"This is just great!" groaned Rizu as she flopped into the seat on the other side of Geiburieru's desk. "What am I gonna do, Geiburieru? I grew up believing that everyone in high school hated me because I was some geeky loser, and now that I've come to find out that it was all an illusion because I was a stupid Angelic Guardian and I chose to be a normal girl after I graduated! I don't know what to believe anymore! I can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not! The lines are so blurred!"

"It'll certainly take a while to adjust yourself with what you gave up, but I'm sure in time you'll recognize the truth and the alteration of your memories," assured Geiburieru.

"But what if I can't?" asked Rizu.

"Trust me, you will. A few incidents of the past did cross over, but that's because they were already implanted in your mind prior to your calling."

"Such as?"

"Your classmates. No matter which memory you look at, they bullied you all throughout your sophomore year," explained Geiburieru. "However, in the memories you lost, the bullying came to a stop, and you had different set of friends who accepted you."

"Who were they?"

"Sutefan E-suno, A-ron Yamano, Roman Tsuchino, and another boy named Taira Gogyouno."

"Them? Those jerks? But they ran around with Raian!" exclaimed Rizu.

"They were also your friends because of Raian. They were the chosen vessels of the four Minor Angelic Guardians from Roganu. They were the ones who renounced their faith in Shinmei and destroyed their Seed Crystals," continued Geiburieru.

"Because there wasn't any need for the Angelic Guardians," finished Rizu.

"There wasn't at the time."

Rizu felt tears pricking her eyes as an image of four male Guardians being struck to death by an invisible force came to her mind. She saw their Seed Crystals shatter like glass, and Myoujou's shadow soon snatched the bodies before they could hit the floor. Then, as fast as it appeared, the shadow vanished with the souls of the fallen quartet in its possession.

She sunk further into her seat, and her heart grew heavy with guilt and regret. She knew she was to blame for the deaths of the Minor Angelic Guardians, and she had a growing suspicion that their fate had something to do with On'ai's cold behavior toward her. _He hasn't forgiven me for what I did to his friends, _she thought.

Worried about her strange silence, Geiburieru leaned over the desk and asked, "Rizu, what's wrong?"

"I should have turned down the offer," she said aloud. "I could have saved four souls, but because I was selfish, I lost them to Myoujou. I don't deserve to have Tamashii's Seed Crystal. She wouldn't have allowed this to happen! I just know it!"

"Rizu, none of this was your fault. We didn't know Myoujou would return to seek his revenge on you."

"But had I known, they would still be alive! I would have made sure of that!"

"Even if you tried, they still wouldn't be fit for Shinmei's army," argued Geiburieru. "They renouncement proved that their loyalties had never been with Shinmei. No true Angelic Guardian would give up that easily no matter how tempting the sinful life may be."

"So, it was only a matter of time before those Angelic Guardians were destroyed."

"Yes. When an Angelic Guardian's heart is not one with Shinmei, they become prey to the Dark Demon. Myoujou feeds upon doubt, envy, loneliness, and other feelings that separate us from the love of Shinmei, and when we don't ask Shinmei to protect us from those feelings, Myoujou's seed will continue to grow until we've been fully consumed with sin.

"The only way an Angelic Guardian can be killed is if his or her Seed Crystal is destroyed. However, Shinmei has been known to recreate a broken Seed Crystal on rare occasions, or so I've been told."

"How so?" inquired Rizu.

"As long as the Angelic Guardian did not renounce his or her affiliation with either Shinmei and Iesu prior to death, it's possible for that Angelic Guardian to return in dire times. There have been situations where the Seed Crystal was destroyed by force, not by will, and Shinmei hates to lose a good _senshi_ if he or she has been faithful to his cause," said Geiburieru.

"And out of the team that I left behind, Raian was the only Angelic Guardian who survived because of his faith," sighed Rizu.

"Yes and no. He survived because of his mission," corrected Geiburieru. "He knew he had to carry out Shinmei's plan, and as one of twelve true Seed Crystals, he could not let On'ai's death hang over him if he chose to join his friends in their betrayal. It was true that he did commit sins during that last year of high school, but he also prayed every night to Shinmei to let him know that he was still on his side."

"So, if Raian has been On'ai all this time, then that means Ami…"

"Is Waraku," finished Geiburieru. "I'm sorry, Rizu. I know Ami has been nothing but nice to you ever since you met her, but she came here to keep On'ai on track with his mission, not to join you and the others. Once they've stopped Myoujou from opening the Gates of Pandemonium, they'll return to Tokyo and finish what they started there."

"But why?" asked Rizu.

"They'll no longer be needed in Oukan. Shinmei intends on erasing their enrollment status. That's why On'ai went to the dream world last night. His time is running short, and he has to give you back your memories before he can leave."

"Providing that he can leave," said Rizu.

"He will, Rizu. You'll find a way to stop Myoujou," promised Geiburieru. "But if I were you, I'd go find Raian first while you still can and take back what rightfully belongs to you."

"I don't know if I can."

"You can."

"This isn't gonna be simple, is it?"

Geiburieru leaned toward her and said, "No one said it's supposed to be."

After finishing an online quiz in the computer lab at the Student Center, Jeison walked out of the elevator in the hotel lobby and started toward the direction of the student lounge. Just as he passed the hallway next to the lounge, he heard Ami's voice in the distance, "And you're just now ready to tell her? This should have been done the minute we got here!"

Jeison hid around the corner and peered over the trashcan where he saw his younger cousin talking to Raian outside the post office. "Relax, Ami! I've got everything under control!" he heard Raian say.

"You call flirting with your _ex-girlfriend_ as having everything under control? I don't know what exactly you've been doing for the past month, but you could have used that time to tell her the truth!" snapped Ami.

_Ex-girlfriend? The truth? What's going on here?_ thought Jeison.

"The time wasn't right!" shot back Raian.

"When will it ever be right?" asked Ami. "I'm tired of waiting around! We need to get this done and over with! The sooner you give her back her memories, the sooner she'll be out of our hair!"

"Don't worry about a thing. I left a note in her mailbox for her to meet me tonight, and after my visit to her dream world last night, I doubt she'll turn down the invitation."

"You better hope she doesn't," snorted Ami.

"She won't," said Raian matter-of-factly. "She's the kind of person who demands to know everything, regardless if it concerns her or not."

Suddenly, he turned his head toward the trashcan where Jeison hid from their line of vision, and Ami took notice of the severe look in her companion's green eyes. "Raian, what is it?" she asked.

"We better get going. It's not safe for us to talk here like this," he answered.

Taking Ami by the hand, he led her outside through the south entrance of the Student Center and cast a quick glance over his shoulder at the trashcan. _Damn it, Shi! You just couldn't keep your nose out of our business, could you?_ he sneered to himself.

Jeison stepped out from his hiding place, but instead of following their trail and interrogating them, he stayed behind and thought about their conversation. He was surprised to discover that Raian had a former lover on campus and that he had been spending time with her when he wasn't with Ami. _And she certainly sounded like she was jealous,_ he noted to himself. _I wonder who they were talking about, and why does Raian have to give her back her memories? I mean why does he have them in the first place?_

Then, a thought crossed his mind, and before too long, he solved the mystery that surrounded Raian Daishizenno. "That bastard!" he cursed.

"He's WHAT?" cried Beronika, Megu, and Deibiddo at the food court later that afternoon as the quartet sat at a round table for lunch.

"You heard me," said Jeison. "Raian is Rizu's old boyfriend."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Deibiddo.

"Positive. Ami didn't like the thought of him flirting around with another girl, and weren't you the one who told me that Rizu had gone on a date with him a few weeks ago?"

"_Touché._"

"But Rizu said that Raian was only an old crush of hers!" argued Megu.

"Regardless who he was in the past, it's not like Rizu to lie about her romantic life," said Deibiddo.

"I don't think she did," said Jeison.

"Jeison, either she did or she didn't lie! How else can you explain the situation?" asked Megu.

"Probably because Rizu doesn't remember anything about Raian in that sense."

Deibiddo lifted his right eyebrow and gave Jeison a look of disbelief as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back into his wicker chair. "Impossible!" he scoffed. "How can you not remember dating a person, especially a person you've been chasing after for a long time?"

Jeison furrowed his eyebrows in deep thought and replied, "I'm not sure, but I bet you it has something to do with what Ami said about giving back memories."

"Memories?" asked Megu. "What memories?"

"More importantly, _whose_ memories?" said Deibiddo.

"My guess would be Rizu's," replied Jeison.

"Well, if it is Rizu, she must have suffered a massive memory loss somewhere between high school and now, but I'm not sure how and why it happened."

"Geiburieru did mention something about Tamashii trading her memories for a normal life after the defeat of Myoujou in Roganu, which was way before any of us were discovered," said Jeison.

"That does sound like a probable time for a memory loss to occur," said Deibiddo.

He opened his mouth to continue the discussion when he noticed Beronika sitting in her chair with a blank expression on her face. "Say, B, you seem quiet over there. Are you okay?" he asked.

Beronika hesitated to answer as she thought about the conversation she had with Rizu concerning Raian and Ami weeks before the Autumn Festival, but she felt Megu placing a comforting hand over her shoulder and knew she had to tell her friends what she believed was the truth.. "Guys, I think I know why Raian has Rizu's memories," she began.

Megu, Jeison, and Deibiddo leaned closer toward her and she continued with a heavy sigh. "A few weeks ago, Rizu and I got into an argument about Raian and Ami, and we both noticed the similarities between them and On'ai and Waraku. It all makes sense! They're always together at the hip, they came here at the same time from Tokyo University, and Jeison, remember when you followed Ami to the pool?"

"What are you saying?" asked Jeison.

"Raian and Ami are On'ai and Waraku," said Beronika flatly. "They must have come here to give back Rizu her memories _and_ to search for the crystals. I didn't want to believe it, but I always felt that there was something strange going on between Rizu and Raian. I mean, come on, you guys, why would a high school crush, who wanted nothing to do with you, try and win you over now?"

Deibiddo nodded his head and carefully pondered Beronika's hypothesis. "It does make sense," he agreed. "I know my crush would have stayed far away from me if I was as persistent as Rizu."

"But Ami can't be Waraku! She's not a snob!" protested Jeison.

"Then, explain to me why she seemed so connected to the water before you were thrown out of the gymnasium for stalking her," challenged Beronika.

"Well, I… I…"

"My point exactly."

"You don't have a point, B! Ami would never treat family like shit, especially me!" said Megu.

"I don't think Ami knows you're Iinaka, and if she did, she's putting on one hell of a nice girl act," said Beronika.

"Well, prove to us that Raian and Ami are indeed On'ai and Waraku, and we'll never doubt you ever again."

"Okay," affirmed Beronika. "Jeison, you try and warn Rizu about Raian."

"Why me?" whined Jeison.

"Because you were the one who decided to spy on him and Ami in the first place!"

"Come on, B! Can we just draw straws or something?"

"Sorry, dude, but I'm not the one who has a past grudge against On'ai and Waraku," said Deibiddo.

"And I certainly don't like to make Rizu upset, which you've pretty much done a good job ever since we came back," chimed in Megu.

"Fine," grumbled Jeison. "I'll talk to her after my last class, but if you hear a report of a missing body in the morning, don't say I didn't warn you."

Using Deibiddo's identification card to enter Rizu's residence hall, Jeison climbed up the staircase to the third floor and grumbled incoherently under his breath about smaller complexes not using elevators for public use. He passed a group of girls near Rizu's old room, who shot him a demanding look for his intrusion as he walked by, but he ignored them and continued to make his way to the end of the hall, pretending that he was familiar the building's layout.

In the comfort of her room, Keitorin sat at her desk playing a virtual interactive game on her laptop. When she heard a loud knock on the door, she jumped in her chair and cocked her head to the side. "What do they want this time?" she muttered to herself.

She had expected to see Beronika, Micchi, or, just like in her fantasies, Deibiddo waiting on the other side, but when she opened the door to greet her guest, her face fell with disappointment. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"No, you don't, but I'm looking for your roommate," replied Jeison.

"I haven't seen her since this morning," said Keitorin.

"You mean she's still out?"

"Well, I suppose she was here earlier this afternoon."

"You suppose?" asked Jeison irritably.

"I found this note on her comforter next to her messenger bag," continued Keitorin, handing Jeison a folded-up piece of paper. "I didn't bother reading it because I wasn't sure if it was private or anything."

Jeison gave her a curt nod as he took the note and read the message inside. Giving it back to her, he began to walk away and said, "That answers my question. Thanks."

"Where are you going?" asked Keitorin.

"I'm gonna find your roommate."

"Do you need me to call her?"

"Don't bother. She left her phone on her desk."

Keitorin watched him turn the corner and disappear into the connecting hallway. Shrugging her shoulders, she closed the door behind her and returned to her desk, but as she started to sit down, she found Rizu's cell phone lying next to her laptop. "What's going on, Rizu?" she asked aloud.

The sound of Rizu's feet trudging through the crisp, dead leaves in the quad filled the quiet air around her amid the roaring traffic in the distance. She passed the two main entrances to the Kenji Oukan Building and headed west toward the Shiro Oukan Building, the school's power plant that lied beyond the Saburo Oukan Gymnasium.

When she checked her mailbox after returning from her last class, she found a handwritten note from Raian, which read:

_Rizu – _

_ Meet me at the power plant in the quad tonight at six o'clock. I'll be in the lecture hall on the third floor. Come alone._

_ Raian_

_It's rather an odd place to meet, don't you think, Raian?_ she thought as she reached her destination. She stood in front of the power plant, and her gaze followed the staircase on the other side of the tall glass paneling. The power plant was three stories high, and she could see the doors to the lecture hall where Raian was waiting patiently inside for her.

Just as she took a step forward, she heard Jeison and their friends calling for her. "Don't go in there!" hollered Jeison as he ran past the steps to the gymnasium.

Suddenly, a gryphon swooped down from the sky and stood between Rizu and the other four Angelic Guardians. It drew its head back and released a painful screech that forced the quartet to cover their ears. "Man, that's one loud bird!" groaned Megu.

"And I thought losing my hearing to the harpy was bad enough!" grimaced Beronika.

The gryphon prowled dangerously toward them, leaving Rizu a chance to run inside the power plant for safety. Casting a final glance at her friends, she turned and sprinted toward the main entrance. Jeison struggled onto his feet and saw her fleeing from him without any intention of joining the battle. "Rizu!" he cried. "Rizu, help!"

_I'm sorry, Jeison,_ thought Rizu sadly as she pulled open the glass door, _but I have to do this._

Jeison watched her slip through the entrance and let out a cry of frustration when the door slowly latched behind her. "Damn it!" he cursed.

"Forget about Rizu! We got to take this beast down before it attacks an innocent person!" said Deibiddo.

Torn between going after Rizu and protecting his school, Jeison gave into Deibiddo's command and pulled out his _henshin_ pen from his pants pocket. "I'll deal with you later, Rizu," he growled. "_Shi!_"

Meanwhile, Rizu's shoes pounded against the iron steps as she raced to the third floor. She kept her mind focused on her purpose, and whenever she approached a landing in the staircase, she looked away from the battle outside in front of her and continued her path. She knew the gryphon arrived to distract her friends from locating the fourth crystal, but taking heed of Geiburieru's advice and Raian' message, she ignored the urge to turn around and fight the gryphon.

When she finally reached the top step, she stopped in her tracks and stared at the set of heavy doors that would lead her out of reality and into a world she selfishly left behind. "This is it," she said. "There's no turning back now."

She pulled open the right door and stepped inside the empty lecture hall. Although there was no hint of light in the room beyond the threshold, she could make out the white plastic tiles on the walls and the fifteen rows of chairs and tables to her left. "Hello?" she called. "Raian, are you here?"

She reached around the wall with her right hand to turn on the overhead lights, but as she flipped the switch up and down, nothing happened. The power to the lecture hall had been turned off, and she had a feeling Raian was behind it.

Taking several steps forward, Rizu let go of the door, and it quickly slammed shut with a loud click. She turned around, fearing that she was locked inside the wrong room, and pushed on the metal bar across the door, but neither bar nor latch gave way to her weight. "Open up, you stupid door!" she grunted.

"I had it locked for a reason, you know."

The overhead lights suddenly flickered on to the dimmest setting, and Rizu ceased her struggling fight against the door. Slowly turning on her heels, she came face-to-face with not Raian but On'ai, and in his hand was the shard of pink quartz that she had seen in the dream world. "On'ai," she acknowledged.

"I'm surprised you actually showed up. For a moment, I thought you were gonna forget our little meeting and save your friends instead, but I think you're more interested about the past than you are with the present, especially now that you know a little bit of what really happened," said On'ai.

"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" sneered Rizu.

"Demanding as always," chuckled On'ai, "but first thing's first. I'm not here to give back Rizu Hikarino her memories. I've come here for Tamashii. Where are you hiding her?"

"The same place where you've hidden Raian Daishizenno," returned Rizu with a smirk as she reached for her _henshin_ pen in her school jacket. "_Tamashii!_"

A great pink light consumed Rizu as she transformed into her angelic counterpart, but the bright intensity did not faze On'ai. The light soon faded, and Tamashii stood proudly before him. Opening her eyes, she looked at him and greeted smoothly, "On'ai."

"Tamashii," he answered. "Even after graduation, you still haven't changed."

"Don't expect me to either. Now, what was it that you wanted to give me?"

"Before I return these memories to you, I must warn you that the truth has never been easy for man to accept. What you and I are about to see are a few glimpses that will, without a doubt, contradict everything that you thought was real. Moreover, these glimpses could affect any special friendships that you've developed since then."

"Really?" snorted Tamashii. "I didn't know my past played such a huge role with the friends I've chosen."

"Not the ones you're thinking of at the moment. Just one in particular… one that is on a much higher level."

"How so?"

"Will you stop with the questions? There won't be any point of returning your memories if you keep asking them!" snapped On'ai.

He extended his arm out with the shard facing up in the palm of his hand. The crystal began to glow, and Tamashii could see a powerful force swirling inside the smoky glass. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked.

Tamashii looked deeply into the shard, feeling the incredible pure power that surrounded it, and then turned her attention back to On'ai. She longed to walk away from her one and only chance to know the truth, but she knew that if she did, her mind would forever be full with questions that began with "what if". _It's now or never,_ she told herself.

She wrapped her fingers around the rough surface, and she watched On'ai closed his hand around hers, causing her to look into his face and answer, "I'm ready as I'll ever be."

A burst of light glowed beneath their fingertips, and Tamashii felt her soul being separated from her body and sucked into a vortex of time and space, not knowing where she would land on the other side of the rabbit hole.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

A Trip Down Memory Lane – Tamashii Remembers Her Past!

_F__all 2002_

_Fifteen-year-old Erizabesu Hikarino followed a group of students into her Biology laboratory one early October morning with only five minutes to spare. While her classmates dropped off their books at their desks and exited the room to enjoy their short freedom with their friends in the hallway, she stayed behind and started to jot down the set of notes that had been recently written on the chalkboard._

_She soon realized that she was not the only student present when she heard a certain group of freshmen cheerleaders taunting her from the other side of the room. "That Erizabesu Hikarino, ever the bookworm of this school. It's a shame her homework isn't her boyfriend. I'm sure she'd love to do him every night," sniggered Jeshi Ono, the captain of the squad._

"_Come on, Jeshi. You know she only has eyes for your guy," teased another cheerleader._

"_Ha! Like he'd ever date that freak!" snorted Jeshi. "No, Raian is all my, girls, and nothing is gonna separate us from being together. We've got it made."_

_Erizabesu stilled her hand for a moment to glare at the squad from the corner of her left eye. With a shake of her head, she shrugged off their cruel words and returned to her task._

_ She had finished writing down the last kanji character inside her notebook when the minute bell buzzed loudly over the intercom, and she saw her classmates enter the laboratory one by one. Her eyes lingered over each student that passed through the doorway, but when Raian Daishizenno crossed the threshold, they were immediately fixed onto him and followed his path to where Jeshi sat in her seat in expectation. A gleam of jealousy flashed in her eyes as she watched Raian affectionately squeeze his girlfriend's hand, and she quickly averted her gaze when he took his seat in front of Jeshi's desk._

_ The minute hand struck eight o'clock on the analog wall clock above the intercom, and Mrs. Shinohara kicked up the doorstop with her right foot just as the bell buzzed for the last time. Approaching the long lab table in front of students, she greeted,_ "Ohayo gozaimasu."

"Ohayo gozaimasu, sensei,"_ answered the class._

"_Today, we will continue our unit over Gregor Mendel's discovery of hybridization by testing his hypothesis for the next three days with kernels," began Mrs. Shinohara. "As you may recall from your text, Mendel's results did not bloom in three days. In fact, he spent nearly seven years testing his hypothesis, mostly because he had to follow the harvesting calendar for his pea pods. Unfortunately, we don't have seven years to determine if Mendel's hypothesis was indeed true, but since we are blessed to live in an age of technology, we can easily speed up the process in a matter of days by using lab lamps and fertilizer._

"_Now, when a seed has two dominant traits that overlap the lesser traits of another seed, the result of the hybrid is one dominant trait and one lesser trait. The same rule applies to our genetics. There are some of you with your father's most prominent traits, whether it is a physical gene or something very noticeable in your personality, while the rest of you have been either blessed or cursed with your mother's."_

_A few chuckles rumbled from the back row where a group of boys tried their best not to laugh out loud, but after earning a reprimanding look from their teacher, their mirth suddenly faded. "Thank you," said Mrs. Shinohara. "As I was beginning to say, we will discuss more about the human genetics next week and how those laws relate to Mendel's theory._

"_But, first, we need to prove if Mendel's theory is correct before we can move onto the next unit. Unlike your other previous lab projects, this assignment is seventy-five percent of your test grade for your upcoming midterm exam, so, please, take it seriously. All you need is your workbook and a pencil; do not bring anything else to your workstation. Your equipment has already been provided for you. Are there any questions?"_

_Not a single hand shot up in the air, and Mrs. Shinohara hummed in approval. "Very well, then. If everyone is ready, you may begin," she said._

As she watched her former classmates and her younger self move to their workstations, Tamashii stood in the far corner next to On'ai with a distraught look on her face. "Of all the memories you could have shown me, why did you pick this one? You know this class was the start of my troubles!" she whined.

"But this is the class where we met. This is where we were supposed to meet. We were destined to take Biology I together," reasoned On'ai.

"So, why did you take me to this particular memory?" asked Tamashii.

On'ai pointed to the snake terrarium along the opposite wall and replied, "Watch that snake over there."

"On'ai, there wasn't a snake in the classroom!" argued Tamashii.

"To you, there wasn't one, but that was because your memory of this day was altered for a particular reason."

"What reason was that?"

"Just watch."

Tamashii shifted her gaze to the python that was slithering around on the floor of the terrarium. She thought it was the lamp over the tank that was causing her to see things, but when she squinted her eyes to take a closer look, a bright light of dark energy enveloped the creature and quickly faded away before she could stop it. "Demon?" she asked aloud.

"Yes. That snake was the unfortunate victim of Myoujou's attack on our class," sighed On'ai. "In a few minutes, he'll break out of his tank and wreck havoc in this very room."

"Not if I have a say in it!" growled Tamashii. "Don't worry! I'll make sure nothing happens!"

"I'm afraid you can't," argued On'ai.

"And why not?"

"Nobody knows we're here. They can't see us, they can't hear us…"

On'ai paused and walked over to a nearby table to grab a student's pencil, but his fingers could not grip the yellow length, and the object remained still on the black surface. "And they certainly can't feel us," he finished. "Even if we could stop the upcoming attack, it'd still be too risky. One wrong move and our present would no longer be the present as we left behind. It's just best if we let it all play out."

"But—"

"Everything's gonna be okay," assured On'ai. "You'll see."

_Erizabesu flipped open her workbook to the first page of her assignment and looked up at her three lab partners for their help. "So, um, who's gonna answer the first question?" she asked hesitantly._

"_You are," replied Kodi Fukami._

"_And the second question?"_

"_You," answered Michiru Takamatsu._

"_And the third?" mumbled Erizabesu._

_Everyone at the table looked at Kimu Sakurano, but the bulky girl shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Don't look at me! I have no idea what's going on! Why don't we let Erizabesu answer it? I mean she seems to know everything!"_

"_I seem to know everything?" huffed Erizabesu. "Is that the reason why I'm always stuck doing our lab assignments?"_

"_Well, you are the brains of the group," confessed Kodi._

"_And as long as we get an easy 'A' out of the deal, we'll be happy to have you at our table," added Michiru._

"_You didn't want me?" asked Erizabesu._

"_Nobody wanted you, but because Mrs. Shinohara is so anal about everybody working in groups, we didn't have much of a choice. Now, either do the assignment for us, Hikarino, or we'll let Mrs. Shinohara give you your first zero. We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?"_

_Erizabesu let out a heavy sigh of resignation under her breath, and her shoulders slumped from the great burden that had been placed on her by her lab partners. "You win," she muttered, "but since I'm doing your questions, will you at least please start working on the other half of the assignment?"_

"_We can't start until those questions are answered," said Kimu._

"_But I can't do this all by myself!"_

_Kodi, Michiru, and Kimu exchanged glances for a moment before they reached into the pockets of their school jackets and pulled out their cell phones to text their friends. Irked by their lack of responbility, Erizabesu rolled her eyes and began to answer the questions in her workbook. She had just finished writing out the answer to the first question when she felt a pair of eyes staring at her from the other side of the room. Looking to her left, she saw Raian at his workstation giving her a small smile, and she felt her cheeks turn pink._

"_How are we doing over here?" asked Mrs. Shinohara as she approached the quartet with a clipboard in her left arm and a fine-point pent in her right hand._

_Erizabesu opened her mouth to complain, but Kimu shot her a threatening glare across the table and answered, "We're doing good, _sensei._"_

"_Well, that's great, Miss Sakurano," praised Mrs. Shinohara sarcastically. "For a second, I thought I saw Miss Hikarino doing the assignment by herself, but, no, I could have been wrong. I can't imagine three brilliant biology students of mine not helping a fellow classmate."_

"_Us? Not helping Erizabesu? Are you kidding? Why would we do that?" asked Kodi._

"_I was hoping you'd tell me, Mr. Fukami, but if you won't, I suppose your test scores will, which, by the way, are nowhere near your performance in the lab. I've noticed how high your marks are when you three are working with Miss Hikarino, and every time I come to this table, she's always there on her stool with her workbook open and a pencil in her hand while the rest of you are doing nothing. You wouldn't happen to be taking advantage of her, would you?"_

"_We're not," lied Michiru._

"_You better not. But aside from that, don't assume that there are no eyes in the back of my head, Miss Takamatsu. I saw you, Mr. Fukami, and Miss Sakurano texting just before I came over here. Now, hand over those phones."_

_The trio groaned, but Mrs. Shinohara ignored their whining and gathered their prized possession into her arms against her clipboard. "You know the rules: no cell phones in the classroom," she said._

"_But that's unfair!" protested Kimu._

"_Life is unfair, Miss Sakurano. Get use to it," said Mrs. Shinohara stiffly. "Now, if you want these back, come see after your last class. And get to work."_

"_Yes, _sensei,_" mumbled the trio._

_Once their teacher had her back turned to them, they sneered at Erizabesu and opened their workbooks to begin their assignment. "Thanks a lot, killjoy," spat Michiru. "Now I can't text during lunch!"_

"_Is that all you guys care about?" asked Erizabesu._

"_If you had friends, you'd be doing the same. It's no wonder nobody likes you around here, Hikarino. You take the fun out of breaking the rules."_

_Erizabesu tried her best not to let her emotions show as she felt Michiru's hurtful words pierce her heart. "Sorry," she said quietly, looking down at her workbook with her head hanging in shame._

_As Mrs. Shinohara strolled past the terrarium, the python lifted his head and darted his small tongue at his owner. Suddenly, his eyes glowed red, and his long body began to grow in size. Tiny cracks in the bottom of the tank spread beneath the python and ran up the glass walls until the tank could no longer contain its inhabitant._

_Mrs. Shinohara had just closed her desk drawer of confiscated belongings when the terrarium exploded and startled the entire class. She looked up to find a mutated python-like creature staring hungrily back at her. He had markings all over his body that were similar to those of her python, and he stood just a foot beneath the ceiling with a pair of scaly arms that had sprouted out during the transformation._

"_Monti, what happened to you!" she shrieked._

_Monti hissed and struck several empty desks with his tail, sending one into a glass cabinet full of expensive equipment and breaking dozens of beakers and mortar bowls as the shelves came tumbling down. Many students jumped off their stools and fled the laboratory before he could attack them next. Mrs. Shinohara followed closely behind, and when she ran into the hallway, she rushed over to the nearest fire alarm and pulled down the squared lever to alert everybody throughout the building._

"_Help!" she screamed to get her colleagues' attention as all the teachers in the science wing poked their heads into the hallway, wondering why the fire alarms were going off when there was not a drill schedule that day. "Somebody help! There's a giant snake in my classroom!"_

"_Mrs. Shinohara, what is the meaning of this?" demanded Mr. Ishida, the head of the science department._

"_I'm sorry to disrupting your lecture, Mr. Ishida, but we need to get the students out of the school! My snake broke out of his terrarium—"_

"_Your snake was in a terrarium that you deemed as indestructible," drawled Mr. Ishida._

"_And he broke it! He's tearing up my room as we speak!"_

"_Step aside, Mrs. Shinohara," said Mr. Ishida, pushing the biology teacher away as he walked toward the laboratory. "I'll take care of your little snake problem for you."_

_He stood at the doorway and peered inside the room, but what he found was nothing he expected. With eyes wide open and his face turning a ghastly shade of white, he ran back to his classroom to gather his students, yelling all the while, "Everybody, out of the building! Call animal control! Call the police! Call somebody, but get that damn snake out of this school!"_

_Doors all across the campus flew open, and hundreds of students and faculty members ran outside to their designated emergency evacuation spots in the parking lots that surrounded both the junior high school and the senior high school wings. Mrs. Shinohara barked orders at the students who were using the exit in the science hallway and forced everyone to move beyond the parking lot and up the grassy incline. When she was certain all students had been accounted for, she took a final glance down the hallway and fled for safety._

_She did not notice, however, that two of her own students were missing—Erizabesu Hikarino and Raian Daishizenno._

_Tactful and sly as a ninja, Raian hid around the corner of the doorway to the physics laboratory until he heard the doors close behind Mrs. Shinohara. He stepped out into the middle of the hallway and stared at the open door to his greatest challenge yet. He could see shadows of desks and books being thrown across the room, and he swallowed thickly as his green eyes were glued to the demon's silhouette on the far wall._

_Meanwhile, Erizabesu huddled beneath her table as she watched Monti continue his rampage with strike after strike of his powerful tail. _What am I gonna do?_ she asked herself, drawing up her legs closer to her body._

"Do you remember what happened next?" asked On'ai.

Tamashii continued to stare at Monti, and she clenched her right fist as a sense of familiarity washed over her like a tidal wave. She listened to the sound of glass and plaster shattering against the floor and the walls, and in her mind, she could still hear the blood-curdling screams of her classmates. "I… I started to fight," she began. "I didn't want Monti to continue tearing up the laboratory because I knew how much money was needed to repair all the damages, and I had no clue where he would strike next after he was done destroying everything. So, I came out of hiding and fought him."

"That's right."

_ With Monti's back still turned to her, Erizabesu crawled out from under the lab table and found her school briefcase propped up against the legs of her desk. Her only hope of survival was locked inside, but retrieving it would prove to be a difficult task. She looked at the demon for a moment and then back at her briefcase. _You can it do it, Hikarino,_ she told herself. _Just don't make a sound.

_ Leaping across the floor, she lunged for the briefcase and snatched it into her arms, but as she reached to grab it, she bumped a desk with her right shoulder, causing the noise in the air to bounce off of Monti's skin and vibrate its way to his ear bone. "Fuck!" she swore aloud._

_ Monti halted his rampage and turned his head toward his new target. He watched her fumble around with the two three-digit combination locks of her briefcase through angry slit eyes, and tasting the air in approval, he pivoted his body and began to go after her instead._

_ Small, shaky fingers kept sliding past the number to unlock the gold latches, and Erizabesu looked over her shoulder to find Monti slithering along the back row of desks as fast as his enormous size would allow. She shifted her attention back to her briefcase and said under her breath, "Come on! Come on! Open, damn it! Open!"_

_ As he drew closer to Erizabesu, Monti bared his venomous fangs with the intention to poison her with his bite, but the girl grabbed her briefcase and rolled away as he swooped down and slid into Mrs. Shinohara's lab table, digging his fangs into the wood paneling. He squirmed about on his stomach and tried to pull himself free, only to tear off a splintered chunk of paneling with a powerful jerk of the head._

_ He tried to shake the paneling loose, but his fangs had sunk too deep into the wood for it to let go of its hold on him. Taking the edge into his mouth, he used his back jaws and bit down on it with a mighty crunch._

_ Erizabesu watched the wood split in half and land onto the flood in two jagged pieces with a hole in the middle of each piece. She met Monti's hungry gaze and huddled into a corner of the room, clutching her briefcase against her chest for protection. Monti then took the tip of his massive tail and flicked it like a whip, but he missed her head by a half-inch and plowed a deep hole into the drywall._

_Erizabesu screamed as the tail narrowly spared her from her doom, and somewhere in the process of shielding herself from the attack, she let go of her briefcase and heard it land at her feet with a soft thud. The latches came undone, and inside on top of a stack of homework assignments was her pink _henshin_ pen twinkling beneath the overhead lights._

_ Both girl and snake looked at the pen and then back at each other for a split second. Then, without hesitation, they leaped for the briefcase, but Erizabesu grabbed her _henshin_ pen with her right hand just as Monti threw his body down on top of the briefcase to close it shut. "Ssssssstop right there, Guardian!" he hissed angrily._

_ "Try and make me," returned Erizabesu. "_Tamashii_!"_

_ Outside the laboratory, Raian shielded his eyes from an intense burst of pink light that filled the room as Erizabesu transformed into her chosen Angelic Guardian. "What the fuck is going on in there?" he cursed out loud._

_The light suddenly disappeared, and he peered inside the room to find Monti staring down at a girl dressed in pink with a ponytail of unruly cinnamon blonde curls hanging loosely behind her head. She wore gold cross charms and a mixture of pink and gold rhinestones on her outfit, but when he saw the pink mask that perched elegantly on her nose to hide her brown eyes, he knew exactly where he had seen her face before. _This can't be happening!_ he thought. _Erizabesu has been her all this time!

_ Monti let out an angry hiss and lunged for his prey, but Tamashii dodged the attack and jumped over desk after desk until she found a safe place behind Raian's lab table in the back of the room to summon her bow and arrow. As she took aim at the demon, he knocked the bow out of her hands with his tail and threw her against the wall where he kept her trapped beneath his heavy weight. She struggled to break free, but when she saw Monti coming toward her with his left claw ready to strike her mercilessly, she suddenly felt helpless and lost the will to resist and fight back._

"Then, something happened," continued Tamashii as her eyes went from her teenage self to the younger Raian Daishizenno in the doorway of the laboratory. She watched him reach deep into his pants pocket and pull out a green and gold _henshin_ pen with the kanji character of On'ai's name inside the emerald sphere. Turning to On'ai, she added, "You saved me."

_Monti's arm swung his arm at her, but she grabbed his wrist with her teeth and bit down as hard as she could. Tears swelled in her eyes, and she let out a muffled whimper as the scales brushed against her sensitive gums and caused her mouth to bleed. Crimson droplets fell to the floor, and she spat the tangy, metallic liquid to subdue the excessive bleeding._

_ Lifting her head, she saw the fightful image of herself in the black slits of the demon's red eyes, and Monti poked his tongue out from between his lips as he drew back his left hand to strike her again, this time without fail. "Sssssssee you in the afterlife, Guardian!" he hissed before he lowered his hand._

_ Tamashii closed her eyes and offered her right cheek to him as she waited for the inevitable pain that would soon follow, but a shower of razor-sharp, pink rose petals was hurled into Monti's face and forced him to release his hold on Tamashii. He let out an anguish hiss of agony as blood trickled from the scratchmarks and demanded, "Who isssssss resssssssponsssssssible for thisssssss?"_

"_I am."_

_Monti looked over his shoulder and saw that there was another teenager present in the room. He wore similar gold cross charms as Tamashii, indicating that he, too, was an Angelic Guardian, but instead of a pink two-piece outfit, he wore a forest green male _senshi_ attire with three emeralds on each sleep over his jumper and around the gold belt at his waist. His dark brown hair reached the bottom of his earlobes, and his emerald eyes were cold and unforgiving as they set their gaze on the demon._

_Tamashii pulled herself onto her feet, and when she saw the Angelic Guardian who rescued her, her mouth fell open and her heart skipped a beat. There was only one student in the entire school who was known for having beautiful green eyes. "R-R-Raian?" she stammered. "You're an Angelic Guardian too?"_

"_Does it bother you, _Erizabesu?_" retorted On'ai?_

"_No! I just never thought you would be a Chosen One like me!"_

"_Surprise."_

"_How can thisssssss be? Two againssssssst one! Thisssssss isssssss unfair!" hissed Monti._

"_You want unfair? I'll give you unfair!" snorted On'ai as he reached down and grabbed the demon by his long tail to provoke him._

"_Be careful!" cried Tamashii._

_Monti threw his upper body onto On'ai and pinned him against the floor with his weight, forcing the green _senshi_ to let go of his tail. "You ssssssshould have never done that, you ssssssstupid angel!" he sneered._

_He wrapped his lower half around On'ai and began to crush him with his firm muscles. Looking down hungrily at his prey, he raised his head toward the ceiling and opened his mouth to swallow On'ai whole in one swoop._

"_No!" screamed Tamashii._

_She quickly summoned her bow into her hands once again and aimed the sharp tip of her arrow at the back of Monti's head. She pulled back the fine string of gold to her ear and cried out over the buzzing noise of the fire alarms in the hallway, "Eternal Damnation!"_

_ Just as Monti moved to devour On'ai, he felt Tamashii's arrow rip through the inside of his mouth and destroyed his nervous system with a clean swipe. Blood spurted from his throat and all over the room as he lolled onto the floor with his tongue dangling off to the side._

_ On'ai pulled himself out from under the dead python and watched it shrink back into his normal size where he lied motionless and unresponsive in a puddle of his own blood. He picked up Monti's body with both hands and shook his head in utter amazement. "How are we gonna explain this to Mrs. Shinohara?" he asked._

_ "It's best if we don't explain anything to her," said Tamashii. "I mean we're not even supposed to be here right now."_

_ "Yeah, you're right," sighed On'ai as he dropped Monti at his feet where the python's corpse landed in the red puddle with a small splash. "We need to get going before they find out we've been missing all this time."_

_ He had started to walk out of the room when he heard Tamashii call to him, "Raian—"_

_ "It's On'ai," he interrupted._

_ "On'ai," began Tamashii apologetically, "thank you for saving my life."_

_ On'ai said nothing as he looked away and let out a snort in reply. Taking a step forward, he paused and added as an afterthought, "Just because I saved your life doesn't mean we're now friends. I might be another Angelic Guardian to you, but I work with nobody."_

_ "Then, why did you go out of your way to protect me?" demanded Tamashii._

_ "Because I had to." _

A thick fog surrounded Tamashii and On'ai as the scene shifted into another memory that took place many months later. Tamashii knew they were no longer inside her old biology laboratory but instead in the middle of an unknown hallway. The fire alarms stopped their buzzing, but she heard a new sound that reminded her of somebody punching a locker. "What was that?" she gasped.

"One of the toughest demons that I had ever encountered by myself," answered On'ai as the fog began to lift to reveal the younger On'ai being thrown against a locker by a tonfa-like demon. "Marakoda was the commander of Myoujou's army at the time, and he wanted to get me out of the picture so that when you went up against him in the final battle, I would not be there to protect you. Out of all the demons in Hell he could have recruited, he picked this guy, and, now, I can see why."

_Pain throbbed in On'ai's left shoulder, and he reached up to nurse the tender flesh. The tonfa demon stepped forward and watched his target struggle to stand up, using the dented locker behind him for support. "Not so much of a fighter, are we?" taunted the demon. "Whatever happened to your vigor, Guardian? Did it disappear along with your little pink friend?"_

_Grinding his teeth together, On'ai narrowed his eyes at the demon and growled, "You leave her out of this!"_

"_I'm afraid I can't do that. As soon as I'm finished with you, she'll be next."_

_The demon lifted his forearms, and two long blades shot out from underneath his burgundy skin. On'ai looked at the sharp edge of the blades and gulped. One deadly swipe could prove to be his undoing if he was not careful, and the last thing he needed was a missing limb or worse—a missing head._

_He moved to defend himself from the demon's attack, but his injury restricted him to minimal movement as the burning sensation overrode his determination. "Fuck!" he cursed, gripping his shoulder as if his arm was falling off._

_The corners of the demon's lips curled into a smirk, and he took his arms and formed an 'x' with the blades facing out. On'ai suspected that the demon was going to slash his face when he pulled his arms away, and when he watched the demon lower his arms toward his head, he closed his eyes and silently prayed to Shinmei for help._

_Suddenly, a gold boomerang in the form of a pair of angel wings flew toward the demon and whirled past his face, leaving behind deep burn marks from where the holy aura touched him. He ran the back of his right arm along his singed cheekbone, and he let out a hiss of anguish through his teeth. "What in the nine rings of Hell was that?" he snarled._

_The boomerang flew behind his head and down the hallway where a right pink-gloved hand snatched it in midair and brought it down next to its owner's face. "Looking for me, demon?" asked Tamashii._

"_Tamashii!" exclaimed On'ai._

"_Sorry I'm late. I tried to get here as soon as I could, but I had some company to deal with first," apologized Tamashii, magicking away her boomerang as she approached him._

"_But how did you know I was here?"_

_Tamashii smirked and replied, "Let's just say I had a surprise visit at the house by a certain angel. That and I usually don't fight demon-possessed janitors unless they're guarding a particular operation."_

"_How nice of you to join us, Guardian," purred the demon to Tamashii. "I was hoping you'd show up."_

"_Keep her out of this!" hissed On'ai._

_He took a step forward, but his wound reacted violently to his movement. Pain shot throughout his left arm and forced him to retreat. Tamashii placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and said, "You need to stop fighting before you kill yourself!"_

"_I'm fine!" insisted On'ai._

"_No, you're not! You're hurt!"_

"_Leave me alone! I don't need your help!"_

_Hurt by On'ai's harsh words, Tamashii tighten her grip on his sore shoulder. On'ai seethed with pain and glared at her from the corner of his eye. "Why did you have to go and do that?" he demanded._

"_I wanted to get my point across!" replied Tamashii. "You can't keep fighting like this, On'ai! You're either gonna break a bone or get yourself killed if you continue to be stubborn and not let me help you!"_

"_But—"_

"_Please, On'ai! You've saved my life many times this school year! Let me save yours for once!"_

_On'ai longed to refuse Tamashii's offer, but no matter which approach he took to fight the demon, his injury would still hinder his ability and could cost him his life. He hesitated for a moment as he shifted his gaze to the demon, who was waiting anxiously to hear his final decision, and glanced at the blades that ran down the demon's arms. He never knew how much a sore shoulder could affect his speed, and judging by the length of the blades, he had a feeling he would not be able to avoid another attack unless the blades were destroyed._

_Letting out a heavy sigh of resignation, he turned to Tamashii and muttered, "Fine."_

"_Thank you," said Tamashii, releasing her hold on him._

"_Well, isn't this a nice little turn of events," mused the demon._

"_Too bad it won't say this way forever!" shot back Tamashii._

"_We'll see about that, Guardian! Let's see how tough you really are on your own!"_

Tamashii watched her younger self dodge attack after attack as the demon swung his arms at her, and she noticed the bravery and the determination the teenage Tamashii displayed on her face. "I remember my first demon battle last year," she said aloud. "I was such a coward. I didn't want to fight, I didn't want to be Tamashii anymore, and I just wanted to go home. I wasn't anywhere close to what I used to be. It took me forever to get over my fears."

"You weren't always like this," said On'ai. "You were just as scared in high school as you were when Shinmei called you back into his army."

"Then, what was so different this time around?"

"You built your own army and managed to awaken four other Angelic Guardians last year, but it took you two years in high school to do just that. Without having the others by your side, you quickly learned how to defend yourself from the enemy, and by the time our friends joined us, you were already a well-established leader and fighter."

"But why two years? Why so long?" asked Tamashii.

"It took us a year to awaken the Minor Angelic Guardians, but that wasn't until I realized I could no longer fight the toughest demon alone," replied On'ai.

"This is why you're showing me this memory, isn't it?"

"Perhaps."

_The demon first swung his left arm and then his right arm at Tamashii, but he missed his target each time as she ducked low enough for the blades to clear her head. The second swing was so powerful that the right blade ripped through one of the lockers behind her and pulled it off its hinges, causing the door to attach itself onto the demon's arm. "No! Any other time but now!" he cried.  
>He tried to shake the door off, but the blade was deeply rooted into the metal frame. "Come off, you unholy piece of scrap!" he growled, stepping onto the door to pull himself loose.<em>

_After the fifth tug, he felt the door give way and released the blade with a sharp jerk, but before he could resume the fight against Tamashii, he saw a flash of light from the corner of his eye and heard her cry out, "Eternal Damnation!"_

_The demon turned his head to the side and watched his doom quickly approaching him like a locomotive. "No!" he screamed._

_ Tamashii's arrow pierced his right arm, and holy energy filled his body until every trace of wickedness was dissolved in a white light. When the light faded, all that was left of the tonfa demon was a pile of dust._

_ Tamashii lowered her bow and willed it to disappear. Then, walking up to On'ai, who had slumped against the lockers during the fight to nurse his shoulder, she knelt down by his side and asked softly, "Are you okay?"_

_ "I'll be fine," assured On'ai. "I can't believe I almost got myself killed tonight."_

_ "I can't believe it either," said Tamashii, nodding her head in agreement. "Why did you do it anyway?"_

_ "I thought the demon was gonna be like all the others I've fought on my own," answered On'ai. "I guess I was wrong."_

_ "No, you weren't. You just didn't know how strong the demon was until it was too late, let alone the fact that you fell into a trap," argued Tamashii. "I probably would have assumed the same."_

_ "Really?"_

_ "Really."_

_ Tamashii tilted her head down as she tried to hold back a smile, but the corners of her mouth twitched upward, and she looked up at On'ai with hint of amusement in her eyes. "So, I guess this means we're even, huh?" she asked._

_ "I guess so," said On'ai, smiling in return._

The hallway disappeared in a patch of fog, and when the thick mist lifted, Tamashii and On'ai found themselves standing in the middle of what appeared to be a battered-down, apocalyptic image of downtown Roganu. The tall buildings that once stood with beauty and pride were now vacant and dilapidated without hint of life inside the broken windows. Deep cracks in the asphalt covered the streets, the ancient monuments and lavish fountainheads throughout the city were demolished, and much to Tamashii's horror, people young and old fell dead all around her.

Tamashii looked at the remains of her hometown and hardly believed what she was seeing. "What happened to this place?" she breathed.

"Myoujou was summoned," replied On'ai.

"How?"

"The three landmarks of downtown—the water park by the north river, the waterway in between the train station and the south river, and the amphitheater at the confluence where the two rivers meet—were gateways similar to the pillars of Oukan University. When you were born, Myoujou did all he could to make sure Roganu was not the new chosen land for Iesu's return, and he succeeded. He planted a crystal in those landmarks so that when it was time for his earthly arrival, the crystals would open a portal to Hell and bring death and destruction to Roganu.

"We thought that as long the crystals were in our possession, the city would be safe, but we were wrong. Izeberu, Myoujou's final commander, fooled us, and we were the ones who summoned Myoujou."

Tamashii turned her head to him in disbelief. "No! That can't be true!" she exclaimed.

"It is," said On'ai sharply. "Everything around you was our doing. We were responsible for the destruction of Roganu."

"But—"

Suddenly, a violet light of dark energy in the distance surrounded them and trapped them inside a triangle that was connected by the three landmarks of the downtown district. Several blocks away, a black portal swirled in the center of the triangle, followed by a beam of light that shot straight up into the black storm clouds above Tamashii's and On'ai's heads. "What's going on?" asked Tamashii.

"Myoujou has arrived," answered On'ai.

Far from the pits of Hell, Tamashii watched a dark shadow emerged through the portal in the form of a great red beast with a pair of ram horns and bat-like wings. She had seen people dress up over the years as the Dark Demon with short red horns and a red spade at the tip of his tail, but she soon realized that particular image was nothing compared to the hideous monster her younger self was about to face. "That's Myoujou?" she asked.

"The one and only," drawled On'ai.

Tamashii then turned her gaze to the sextet who was looking up at Myoujou's enlarged form. There standing with her former self and On'ai's were four other unknown Angelic Guardians who looked familiar to her beneath their attire. Dressed in yellow-orange and amber was Sutefan E-suno, A-ron Yamano in ice blue and turquoise, Roman Tsuchino in midnight blue and moonstone, and, finally, Taira Gogyouno in maroon and copper. Slowly, their Angelic Guardians names came to her mind, and she murmured them aloud as she stared at the four teenagers. "Unsei. Yuujou. Koumyou. Furyuumonji."

_And to think that they're all gone because of me,_ she thought.

On'ai heard the names of his fallen teammates on Tamashii's lips, and as he looked back at her, he noticed tears of sorrow and regret swelling in her eyes. _She's starting to remember,_ he told himself, _but how much further do we have to go before she knows the truth?_

_When Myoujou's feet touched the earth, the lights faded and the portal beneath him disappeared. He willed his wings to tuck themselves under his chin, and his lips curled into an evil smile as his black eyes settled on the six Angelic Guardians before him. "My, my! Who would have ever thought Shinmei's favorite angels would have called upon the Fallen One by accident?" he purred. "I wish I could see his face right now. How disappointed he must be with the lot of you."_

_Tamashii sneered at Myoujou and began to charge recklessly toward him, but On'ai placed a heavy hand on her right shoulder and applied enough pressure to hold her back. Myoujou chuckled at Tamashii's restraint and turned his attention to her. "What's wrong, Tamashii? Cat your tongue?" he taunted. "Where are all your threats? Where are all your mighty promises of defeat? Have you finally realized that you're no match for me?"_

_Tamashii growled deeply in the back of her throat as she struggled beneath On'ai's grip. "Why I oughta—"_

"_Ah, there it is! Music to my ears!" sighed Myoujou in content. "It's so nice of you to finally grace us with your hostility, but even hostility has its place in the world. Unfortunately for you, it doesn't have one in mine. You see, I rule over the nine rings of Hell, and every damned soul that comes to me knows better than to defy my authority. Once I make Heaven and earth mine, I expect to be given the same order of conduct without question from you angels._

"_And to give you an understanding of controlling unnecessary hostility, submission is required. So, without further ado, I hereby declare myself the new King of Heaven, and what is it that all the king's servants do in his presence? They bow down to him!"_

_Beams of negative energy shot straight out of Myoujou's fingertips and wrapped themselves around the Angelic Guardians' necks, pulling the six _senshi_ down to their knees. "Very good. I like fast learners," he praised, followed by a growl of approval._

_Tamashii's head snapped up, and she narrowed her eyes at him, gritting her teeth in frustration. "You won't get away with this!" she screamed._

"_I believe already have," argued Myoujou before he zapped the sextet with another blast of negative energy through their restraints._

Tamashii continued to watch the younger Tamashii struggle under Myoujou's incredible power over her. She saw the pain that was in evident in the teenager's eyes, and she longed to run to her and put an end to her torture. _But something had to give,_ she reminded herself. _Something had to have happened to get us out of this mess. But what was it?_

She turned to Unsei, Yuujou, Koumyou, and Furyuumonji and noticed their determination to break free from their restraints. Unsei summoned a card—the ace of spades—between his right index and middle fingers, and using all his strength, he overcame Myoujou's dark magic and threw the card into the palm of Myoujou's right hand where it wedged itself deep into his skin. _Of course! Unsei's card trick! How could I have forgotten that?_ she thought.

_Although the card was small compared to his gigantic size, Myoujou felt something similar to a paper cut rip his skin, and he instinctively pulled away with a hiss of pain to inspect the wound. He took his left hand and pulled out Unsei's card from his palm. Then, turning his cold gaze to the Minor Angelic Guardians, he snarled, "You will pay dearly for that!"_

"_Try and make us!" challenged Koumyou. "Lunar Beam!"_

"_Hydro Iron Blast!" cried Furyuumonji._

_Combining moon and metal together, Koumyou and Furyuumonji hurled their attack into Myoujou's chest. Myoujou tried to resist the force, but the light from Koumyou's Lunar Beam almost blinded him, and Furyuumonji's Hydro Iron Blast began to harden in places where the metallic liquid soaked him. Portions of his chest and his wings were now covered with a heavy layer of steel, and he did all he could to keep himself from falling face first. _They're certainly strong for being teenagers,_ he thought. _I may have made a grave error in my judgment after all.

"_Rose Petal Cyclone!" hollered On'ai._

_Myoujou shielded his face from the storm of razor-sharp petals, but they scratched his arms and tore through his wings like bullets. Seething in anguish, he spread his wings out from underneath his chin and blew the petals away as a counterattack. The Angelic Guardians dodged the petals, but Myoujou continued to flap his wings, creating a mighty windstorm that howled through the empty streets. Buildings began to crumble, and the old discount store that stood four stories high weaved dangerously in the breeze. The framework suddenly snapped, and third and fourth floors crashed through the roof of a diner that had been closed for years._

_The Angelic Guardians heard the loud noise beyond the two bank buildings behind them, and they listened to the sound of rubble falling from another skyscraper nearby. "He's trying to blow down the city!" cried Unsei over the wind._

"_We have to stop him before he destroys something else!" said Tamashii._

"_But how?"_

_Yuujou's ears perked at the sound of metal screeching, and he turned his head toward the pan-Asian restaurant on the other side of the communal parking lot across from him. He saw the top half of the building slowly slidding off to the side, and he shot a cold blast of energy to trap the restaurant under a sheet of ice. "Avalanche Freeze!" he cried out._

"_Wow! That was pretty impressive!" remarked Koumyou._

"_Thanks," said Yuujou._

_Suddenly, an idea popped into his head, and he looked back at Myoujou who continued to cause more damage with his windstorm. With Unsei's card leaving behind a scar in the Dark Demon's palm, Koumyou's Lunar Beam nearly blinding him, Furyuumonji's Hydro Iron Blast weighing him down with armor, and On'ai's Rose Petal Cyclone ripping through his wings, Yuujou was certain new attack would give his teammates the upper hand. _If I was able to stop a building from collapsing by freezing it, surely I can do the same to Myoujou,_ he thought._

_He created another energy ball and shot it toward Myoujou, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Avalanche Freeze!"_

_Ice began to build up along the edges of Myoujou's wings, and the windstorm came to a gradual stop. Myoujou growled and tried to move his wings, but they remained stiff and frozen beneath the ice. Suddenly, he felt a chilling sensation on his back, and he looked over his shoulder to find Yuujou's attack spreading all across his body. "No!" he growled. "No! This can't be happening!"_

_Tamashii and On'ai watched in amazement as Myoujou slowly turned into a block of ice before their eyes. "Talk about Hell freezing over," mused On'ai._

"_Yeah," breathed Tamashii._

"I wasn't the one who froze Myoujou," murmured Tamashii. "It was Yuujou."

"But you did banish him from the earth," reminded On'ai.

"_Angelic Damnation Attack!"_

Six voices rang out in chorus above the violent tremor that shortly followed. The earth opened up, and Myoujou slipped through the cracks where he tumbled all the way down into the ninth ring where, unbeknownst to the Angelic Guardians, his future commander Kasushiusu would be waiting to free him from his icy prison. He landed in the middle of Lake Cocytus, and the impact from his great fall rumbled all the way to the surface, causing the ground to seal the infernal realm below.

Suddenly, her surroundings began to spin, and Tamashii shut her eyes as she held onto On'ai for protection. The decaying city was replaced with her bedroom, and she looked up to find plastic anime-like eyes staring back at her. She started to shriek, but On'ai quickly clamped her mouth shut with his right hand and said, "They're not gonna attack you."

"Sorry," she apologized. "I forgot where we were."

She pulled lowered his hand and slowly walked around the room, quietly taking notice of the difference between her teenage years and her university years. Her photo album was missing, and so were her framed picture of her and her friends.

_That can only mean one thing,_ she thought as she whipped her head toward her bedside table. No longer was there a photograph of her and Robu propped next to her alarm clock but instead a similar picture with her and Raian. Then, her eyes fell to the bed, and the sight of what she saw next made her stomach churn.

She saw her younger self sleeping peacefully in Raian's arms, and without having to lift up the sheets, she knew that they were naked and that they had just made love hours before. She took three steps back and stumbled over a pile of clothes that consisted of Erizabesu's light blue prom dress and Raian's black tuxedo. _Prom dress? Tuxedo?_ she thought as she picked up a white corsage that Erizabesu wore on her wrist. _Shinmei, we had after prom sex!_

"It's a little too late to have regrets, don't you think?" drawled On'ai.

"I'm not having regrets!" snapped Tamashii.

"Is that so? You can't fool me, Tamashii. I know exactly what you're thinking."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

On'ai leaned into her ear and whispered, "And just for the record, you did a pretty good job for being your first time."

Tamashii paled, and the corsage landed at her feet. Her heart pounded against her chest, and her mind suddenly shifted two years later, replacing the image of Raian with Robu over her in his bedroom at the Sousei residence. She stared into his eyes but instead of brown, she saw pair of green orbs looking back at her. Then, she heard Raian's voice as Robu's lips moved, "Are you sure you're a virgin?"

Snapping out of her reverie, she looked at On'ai and whispered, "I gave you my viriginity, didn't I?"

"Yes," answered On'ai. "It happened this very night. When I took you back home from the school, you kissed me and…"

"We ended up like this," finished Tamashii, gesturing to the bed. "Was I ever your—"

"Girlfriend? Yes. We were dating during the last half of your senior year, but I respected your decision to wait until you were ready."

_Until I was ready,_ repeated Tamashii to herself.

Tears rolled down her face, and she used the back of her right hand to wipe them away, hoping that On'ai would not catch her crying, but On'ai heard her sobs and gently took her hands into his to comfort her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I-I-I lied to Robu," sniffed Tamashii. "I told him that I had never been with another boy before he came into my life, but he didn't believe me when we… we…"

She was unable to finish her sentence and lost all control of her emotions. Stepping forward, On'ai took her into his arms and allowed her to bury her face into his chest to muffle her wailing. _She must really love him if she feels this guilty,_ he thought, looking down at the crying woman in his tight embrace.

Suddenly, Sherona Hikarino's voice boomed from the bottom of the staircase on the other side of the door, startling the two Angelic Guardians for a moment. "Erizabesu, time to get up! We got to be at mass in an hour!"

Tamashii and On'ai turned to the rousing couple in the bed, and heard Raian curse under his breath. _"Fucking hell, I need to get going,"_ he said, pulling back the sheets to reveal his naked glory before Tamashii's eyes.

On'ai quickly blocked her line of vision with his left hand and guided her away from their prom clothes as his younger self reached for the pile and pulled out his black dress pants and his boxers. _"What? You're not staying?"_ they heard Erizabesu ask Raian.

_"What do you want me to do? Tell your parents that we had sex after I told them that I wouldn't let anything happen to you?" retorted Raian, zipping up the fly to his pants. "Shinmei, Erizabesu, your mama is gonna kill me for being here this early in the morning, let alone in your bed!"_

_ "I'll just tell her that you were too tired to go home," said Erizabesu as she propped herself up on her shoulders to watch her boyfriend slip into his white button-up dress shirt._

_ "Like she's gonna believe that."_

_ "ERIZABESU!"_

_ "Coming!" hollered Erizabesu to the door. Looking back at Raian, she let out a heavy sigh and grumbled, "I guess you better get going before Papa starts asking why your SUV is in the driveway too."_

_ "You better hope he didn't find it either," said Raian._

_ Shoving his feet into his shoes, he walked over to the side of the bed and kissed Erizabesu hard against her lips. Pulling away in reluctance, he picked up his jacket off of the floor and draped it over his right arm before he approached the open window in front of him. "I'll see if I can come over this afternoon," he said, straddling the windowpane like a horse._

_ "I'd like that very much," purred Erizabesu seductively. "I might need you to help remind me of what all happened last night."_

_ "I would if I could, but after hearing a few sounds that could have been screams, I'd rather do an encore when your family isn't around," sighed Raian. Positioning himself to climb down the lattice below her window, he then added, "Have fun at mass."_

_ "Yeah," grumbled Erizabesu._

As Erizabesu stood to get dressed, On'ai looked down at Tamashii, who was still in a state of shock between learning the truth of her sex life and catching a full glimpse of Raian's body, and gently shook her out of her trance. "Is it all coming back to you now?" he asked.

Tamashii continued to stare at the open window, and without thinking, she ran to the ledge and saw Raian's SUV quietly pulling out onto the street just as she heard her father open the front door to collect the Sunday morning paper. Roderikku stood on the porch with a puzzled expression on his face, but when the gates latched with a loud click, he dismissed the intrusion with a shrug of his shoulders and assumed that it was the paperboy running late on his weekend route.

Tamashii stepped away and turned to On'ai with pleading look in her eyes. "I want to go home now," she whispered.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

Facing Reality – The Guardians Go Their Own Way!

"Twinkle Star Beam!"

"Love Fire!"

Heart-shaped flames danced around a ray of stars as Medetai and Iinaka attacked the gryphon together with their magic. The powerful force hit the creature directly in the chest, causing it to let out an angry squawk. "I don't know how much more I can take! I've almost reached my limit!" panted Medetai.

"We've got to keep trying!" said Inochi as a three laser beams shot out from the diamond heart of his lyre. "The sooner we can get rid of this bird-beast, the sooner we can track down Rizu!"

The gryphon shielded its body from Inochi's attack with its left wing, but as it lifted its head, shockwaves rained down from the sky and fatally electrocuted the creature with a mighty zap. Medetai, Iinaka, and Inochi watched the gryphon collapse onto the ground and slowly dissolve into a heap of brown dust. Only the beak and a pair of black beady eyes remained, but they soon sank beneath into the gritty pile.

"Ew!" grimaced Iinaka as she cast a look of disgust at Shi. "Did you really have to kill it like that?"

"How was I supposed to know the gryphon was gonna die a gruesome death?" retorted Shi, lifting up the blade of his scythe from the ground. "Nevertheless, his unfortunate fate is the least of my concern right now. We need to start looking for Rizu before something bad happens to her."

Medetai turned to the power plant behind her and stared at the third floor on the other side of the glass paneling. "And considering who she's with, we might be already too late," she added.

In the lecture hall, the pink quartz shard vibrated violently on the floor and suddenly spun clockwise. As the crystal picked up speed, the power that was trapped inside grew stronger, and the jagged surface began to crack. White light seeped through the slight gaps, and when the crystal came to an abrupt halt, it exploded into tiny particles of dust, releasing Tamashii and On'ai from the mystical space-time vortex inside.

Tamashii fell to her knees and hunched over to release the bile that she accumulated after seeing the truth behind her loss of innocence. Vomit splattered onto her thighs and into her tendrils, and the sight of seeing his ex-girlfriend reacting in such an overdramatic way made On'ai wonder if he did the right thing.

Taking her right forearm, Tamashii wiped her mouth clean and slowly rose to her feet. She narrowed her eyes at On'ai as if she was about to kill him with her crossbow, and although he had to follow Shinmei's orders, he could not blame her if she did. He had destroyed the reality she had been living for the past three years, and all that remained in the aftermath was the shell of a broken woman he once loved. Swallowing down the excuse that was on his lips, he instead said remorsefully, "I'm sorry. I wish there was some other way, but you would have come right for my throat. It was best for me to show you the truth myself."

"You lied to me!" hissed Tamashii.

"Tamashii—" began On'ai as he reached for her.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, smacking his hand away. "You used me! You only wanted to be my friend until I got back my memories from you, didn't you?"

"That's not true!"

"Bullshit! You had no interest me before, and here you are playing mind games with the girl your friends picked on for years in high school! Did you really think it was funny then? Did you think it was so funny that you'd bring it back from the dead and into university of all places?"

"I did what I had to do!" insisted On'ai. "I knew you wouldn't have believed me one bit because of those fucking alterations! I had to get you to see me in a different light! What did you expect me to do? Go up to you and say, 'Hey, Tamashii! Long time, no see! By the way, happy belated birthday! Here are your memories! _Sayonara!_' You would have thought I was crazy then!"

"But I wouldn't have felt so used either!"

"Look, Tamashii, I didn't like the thought of carrying out this mission as much as you do. I knew I was gonna fuck your mind over with the truth, and I didn't expect you to accept it without a fight either. I had to prepare you for it somehow without dropping the whole thing into your lap. I had to earn your trust and friendship first before I did anything else."

"Well, you've certainly lost them now!" spat Tamashii. "Why did you play me like this? You knew I liked you before! What made you think I wasn't gonna fall for you again?"

"You wouldn't have completely fallen for me like you used to," argued On'ai. "You and I both know I'm no longer the guy who holds your heart in his hand. You're in love with someone else, someone better than I could ever be. Face it, Tamashii: we weren't destined for each other. What happened in the past can't happen again."

"But—"

"We were just two stupid teenagers who thought they knew what love was. But what you feel for Robu is more than what you felt for me, and I was your boyfriend. Don't you see, Tamashii? You might think you still have feelings for me, but they're not as strong as they used to be. I'm sorry, but I'm not the one."

Anger surged through Tamashii's veins as On'ai's words of rejection echoed in her mind. She clenched her fists and grinded her teeth, holding back the urge to rip him into pieces for breaking her heart. "You know, maybe it was a good thing we met tonight," she said cynically. "I have my memories, and your mission is now done. You don't have any business being on Oukan University grounds anymore, do you, On'ai?"

"Not really," he growled.

"So, why don't you go find Waraku and get the hell out of here? I'm sure we can gather the last two crystals without your help."

"You never had our help to begin with, and I don't intend on changing that any time soon," sneered On'ai. "It was nice knowing you, Tamashii. I look forward to seeing you in another life. Maybe then, you'll have picked up a few tips about reading people and not their words."

Tamashii kept her head up and her gaze straight as On'ai walked past her toward the double set of doors, but when his hands rested against the bar metal bar, he paused in his tracks and added venomously, "You're no different than any of them, you know that? You're just as judgmental and cold-hearted as Shi. It amazes me to know that you've got friends these days."

Tamashii glanced over her right shoulder and curled her upper lip in return. "You're such a bastard, Raian Daishizenno," she growled.

"And you're still a drama bitch, Rizu Hikarino," snorted On'ai.

Before he could push against the bar to open the door, the power plant began to shake, and pieces of drywall fell from the ceiling about his head. A jagged chunk fell onto the presentation station and smashed a computer into pieces while another snapped the neck of an overhead projector in half.

Tamashii looked down at her feet, and she could see light from the hallway of the second floor peering through the cracks. _The room is about collapse!_ she thought. _We need to get out!_

Without thinking, she blindly ran to On'ai and pushed him through the doors just as the floor fell apart. Chairs and tables crashed through the ceilings of classrooms and offices below, and she heard a loud click as the doors latched themselves shut. "What happened?" she asked.

"I'm not quite sure, but if you don't mind, would you please get off my person?" hissed On'ai.

Tamashii's eyes shifted to the young man trapped beneath her. She saw a handful of forest green fabric bunched up inside her fists, and she quickly realized that she was sprawled out on his chest, clutching onto him for protection. She scrambled onto her feet and offered her hand to help him stand, but On'ai quietly turned her down and got up on his own without her assistance.

Taken aback by his silent treatment, Tamashii stared at him with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide in confusion. A sense of déjà vu crept into her mind, and she soon discovered that he was regressing to his younger self once again. "On'ai—"

"Stay here!" ordered On'ai.

"But where are you going?"

"I'm gonna see who tried to kill—"

On'ai stopped himself from finishing his sentence. He was about to end it with 'us', but when he looked back at Tamashii and saw a glimpse of concern in her eyes, he had to remind himself that they were neither a working team nor allies but instead two separate individuals walking down the same twisted path. "I'm gonna see who tried to kill me," he corrected.

Tamashii opened her mouth to object and insist that she followed him, but On'ai sprinted down the staircase to the first floor where he felt a strong negative presence lingering near the other side of the main hallway. She peered over the railing and watched him disappear two stories beneath her. _Something's definitely not right about this place,_ she thought as she tightened her grip on the white plaster banister.

She could hear a loud pounding noise drowning out the sound of On'ai's boots clicking against the tile floor, and she knew there were no generators inside the primary unit of the power plant to make such a ruckus. _That can only mean one thing: the fourth crystal has been discovered,_ she told herself.

Following his trail, she hurried down the steps and called his name several times over the thunderous booming at the end of the corridor.

_Pow!_

_ Pow!_

_ Pow!_

_ Pow!_

A pair of large hands reached inside the two craterlike holes in the wall of the west foyer and pulled off a chunk of drywall to reveal to reveal a purple crystal on the other side. "Good work, Porifimesu," praised Medosa. "I'll take it from here."

She held out her right hand, and the crystal magically floated into the center of her palm. Closing her fingers around her prize, she then chuckled, "This is becoming too easy."

"Mistress is happy?" asked the tall Cyclops standing next to her.

"Mistress is very happy," purred Medosa. "Thank you for your assistance, Porifimesu. I'll be sure to give you a bucketful of damned souls as a reward."

"Thank you, Mistress!" exclaimed Porifimesu.

"You're welcome. Now, we better get moving before—ACK!"

A storm of sharp rose petals suddenly swarmed past Medosa, but only one petal razed against her wrist, causing her to drop the crystal from her hand. "What's the meaning of this?" she hissed as she nursed her wound.

On'ai stepped out from the shadows and crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk gracing on his lips. "You didn't think I was gonna let you run away with that crystal, did you?" he asked.

He shifted his gaze to the sliver at the top of her hood that was left behind by one of the rose petals during his attack, and to his surprise, he saw a small tongue darting up into the air from thin opening. "What the fuck?" he murmured.

"What's wrong, Guardian? Scared to fight me?" taunted Medosa.

"I'm not scared of you at all!" growled On'ai.

"Pity. You should be."

A flash of purple caught On'ai's eye, and he saw that the crystal had fallen between him and Medosa. He was just about to go after it when he heard Medosa tut at him in disapproval. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, boy," she said, gathering the edge of her hood into her hands.

"And why not?" asked On'ai dangerously.

"You don't know who you're messing with. All I have to do is to show you what's underneath this robe, and you're done for. Now, I suggest you do as I say and step away from the crystal."

"On'ai!"

On'ai glanced over his left shoulder to find Tamashii running toward him. "Tamashii, stop!" he hollered.

Medosa looked up and flicked her right wrist to summon her pet python. The snake grew in size and coiled its body around Tamashii to keep her captive in its tight bind. "Now, On'ai, you have a choice to make," she said. "If you choose to go after the crystal, your little friend will be crushed by my pet's strength. However, if you forfeit the crystal over to me like a good little angel, I'll spare her life just for you."

On'ai felt trapped like a mouse inside a snake's terrarium. He shifted his eyes between the crystal and Tamashii, and each time he looked at her, he watched the python squeeze its prey harder. He listened to her screams, but he was unsure what to do. Losing a crystal to Myoujou for the umpteenth time would only put the Dark Demon one step closer toward achieving his goal, but he also did not want to be responsible for Tamashii's death either, which would only give Shi another reason to hate him. _I can't let Myoujou win, but I'll never forgive myself if I let Tamashii die. She means so much to the others,_ he told himself.

Letting out a heavy sigh of resignation, he took two steps back with his hands up in surrender. "It's yours," he said to Medosa. "Just please let her go."

"She still means something to you, doesn't she, boy?" asked Medosa.

"I gave you your damn crystal! Now, you keep your end of the deal and let her go!"

"I said I'd spare her life for you! I didn't say I'd let her go!" hissed Medosa. "You two have been nothing but thorns to my side, and I can't afford the risk of running into you again when I search for the last crystal. I'm sorry, On'ai, but the game is over."

"You wouldn't dare!" challenged On'ai.

"I would, and I intend to make sure you and Tamashii won't meddle your way into my business ever again! Porifimesu!"

"Yes, Mistress?" asked the Cyclops excitedly.

"Finish off these angels and pound them to their doom! Their journey has come to an end!"

Medosa bent down and picked up the fallen crystal into her hand. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the python disappeared, and she watched Tamashii land on her bottom with a heavy thud. "See you in Hell, Guardians!" she crowed before she vanished into the shadows.

Tamashii and On'ai turned their attention to the Cyclops and trembled at his great height. His tall, bulky frame towered over them, and his head barely cleared the ceiling by a mere inch. They knew that if they took the battle somewhere else, the inner structure would give way and the walls of the power plant would collapse on top of them.

"Porifimesu wants to play with angels!" grunted Porifimesu as he reached out to grab them. "Here, angels! Come to Porifimesu!"

"Rose Petal Cyclone!" shouted On'ai.

A shower of rose petals struck the flat planes of Porifimesu's palms and greatly enraged the Cyclops from the severing pain. "Angels made Porifimesu mad! Bad angels! Bad!" he growled.

His left hand swooped down and snatched On'ai off his feet. Tamashii was caught in the other, and she felt herself being crushed by his mighty strength. Hoping that her Angel Cry attack still worked, she screamed at the top of her lungs and sent high-pitched wavelengths directly into Porifimesu's right ear.

"Angel is hurting Porifimesu's head!" he roared, dropping the two Angelic Guardians onto the floor to cover his throbbing ears with his hands. "Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"How long do you think it'll take him to realize that you've stopped your screaming?" groaned On'ai as he picked himself up from his fall.

"Wait for it," replied Tamashii.

Porifimesu cringed from the head-spliting vibrations in his brain, but his giant eye snapped open when his skull had finally stopped ringing. He unconvered his ears and discovered that Tamashii was no longer screaming. "No more screaming from angel?" he asked.

He turned to his left and saw Tamashii and On'ai standing beneath him. His veins boiled with anger, and he clenched his jaw as he growled, "Angels made Porifimesu very angry! Angels will pay!"

He took his fists and pounded them into the floor where Tamashii and On'ai stood their ground, but the duo safely jumped out of the way. Porifimesu snarled and began to swing his arms aimlessly around, creating holes in the walls and in the floor until the foyer caved in and sank into the basement of the power plant. He fell through the giant hole, but he ended up taking Tamashii and On'ai along with him.

They landed on top of an enormous pile of rubble and drywall, and their bodies were badly bruised and sore from their fall. On'ai coughed up the dust that had settled inside his lungs and moaned, "Stupid Cyclops!"

"Tamashii? Is that that you? Are you hurt?"

Tamashii's ears perked up at the sound of Medetai's voice in the distance, and she lifted her head to see four shadows coming to her rescue. "I'm fine!" she called. "Come quick, you guys! I need your help!"

Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi rushed out of the darkness to assist their leader, but when their eyes fell onto On'ai's injured body, they froze in their tracks and turned their heads to Tamashii for an explanation. "What is _he_ doing here?" seethed Shi, pointing an accusing finger at On'ai.

"He's probably after the fourth crystal, like always," snorted Medetai.

"Shut up!" cried Tamashii. "It doesn't matter why he's with me! We've got bigger things to worry about!"

A loud roar erupted from behind, and Tamashii and On'ai were suddenly thrown off of Porifimesu as the Cyclops rose from the rubble, shaking off the dust that covered every inch of his body. "PORIFIMESU IS VERY, VERY ANGRY! PORIFIMESU WANTS TO SMASH ANGELS!" he hollered.

"And I thought Cyclops were intelligent!" remarked Iinaka dryly.

"They are, but their speech ability is very limited," explained Inochi. "They're pretty much the Greek equivalent to what the Americans know as the Hulk, except they only have one eye."

"And we all know how dumb the Hulk is," added Tamashii as she lifted herself up from the floor.

"Porifimesu not dumb! Porifimesu smart!" growled Porifimesu.

"I'll be the judge of that! Twinkle Star Beam!" cried Medetai.

Porifimesu flinched as the golden shower of stars attacked him at a fast speed, but he soon overcame the stinging pain and began to punch through the beam with a powerful swing of his right fist. "Stars can't kill Porifimesu!" he said.

Iinaka took her right hand and kissed her index and middle fingers to create a fiery heart over her palm. "What about fire? Love Flame!" she yelled before she blew the flaming heart to Porifimesu's left cheek.

The fire's intense heat scorched the Cyclops' skin, and Porifimesu howled in pain as he tried to rub away the flames with his right fist. Lowering his hand, he revealed a deep scar that ran along the length of his cheekbone. "Porifimesu hates fire!" he snarled.

"Okay, Tamashii, aim for the eye," instructed Iinaka.

Tamashii looked up at the bulging organ and grimaced. "Do I really have to go for the eye? Why can't it be his leg or something?" she whined.

"What good is an eye if you can't see? Now, shoot!"

The thought of gouging the giant's eye out with her arrow made Tamashii's stomach churn, but she knew that without sight, he would not be much of a threat and the battle would quickly be over. "Fine," she grumbled.

Before she could summon her crossbow, Porifimesu wasted no time to take advantage of her hesitance. He pounded his left fist into the floor, but he missed every single one of his targets as they jumped away. Shi rolled across the floor and quickly picked himself up with the support of his scythe. He raised his beloved weapon into the air, and, then, with great strength, he hurled the blade into the floor and cried out, "Death Wrath!"

Bolts of electricity shot out from the artificial serpent's head and zapped Porifimesu. Suddenly, the attack took another form but more relative to Shi's chosen Seed Crystal. Skeleton-like shadows floated around the bolts and screeched over Porifimesu's cries. The Cyclops tried to cover his ears from the squealing noise, but his body was stiff and paralyzed after being electrocuted for so long. "Porifimesu hurts!" he groaned, shutting his eye from the bright lights that danced around him.

Shi looked at Tamashii from the corner of his right eye and curled his upper lip into a sneer. "Well?" he asked.

"I'm moving!" huffed Tamashii.

Her crossbow magically appeared in her hands, and she slid the golden arrow into its notch. Pointing the sharp tip at Porifimesu's head, she pulled back the fine cord as far as she could and cried out, "Fateful Sealing!"

Porifimesu opened his lone eye when Tamashii's words reached his ears, but he was too entranced by the approaching blinding light to protect himself from the attack. The arrow pierced the cornea like a wooden stake, and with a final scream for help from his father Poseidon, he burst into a large pile of dust.

"I guess the old saying is true after all: the bigger they are, the harder they fall," chuckled Inochi. Turning Shi, he then asked, "So, what was the deal with those shadows? That was a pretty impressive trick, if you ask me."

But Shi did not say anything. Thrusting his scythe into Medetai's hands, he approached On'ai with an intense look in his blue-hazel eyes. On'ai had just stood up when he saw Shi walking toward him, and before he could say or do anything, he felt Shi's fist connecting with his left nostril.

"Shi!" screamed Tamashii.

On'ai stumbled backward and touched his face to examine the extent of the damage. Blood was smeared against the palm of his left glove, and it continued to trickle down his face and onto his lips. He shot Shi a glare as he narrowed his eyes and asked, "What the hell was that for?"

"You mess with Tamashii, you mess with us," replied Shi evenly. "I already know the reason why you and Waraku came to Oukan. Your search for the crystals was just a cover-up. You could care less about this school. The only reason you dared to show your face around here was to give back Tamashii her memories, wasn't it, _Raian Daishizenno?_"

"So, you've finally figured it out, haven't you, cousin?" spat Waraku as she stepped forward to join her companion at his side.

"I think we all did, _Ami,_" said Shi, casting a quick look at Iinaka that made her hesitate to speak. "It's just that some of us didn't want to believe a good girl like you could play the role of the bitch and do such an amazing performance."

"Only when needed," elaborated Waraku with a wiry smile. "And I would assume you were the one spying on us in the Student Center earlier this afternoon, no?"

"Let's just say that the next time you decide to talk about your mission in a place where others can hear you, you better make sure the walls don't have ears."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You don't need to. Our job here is done," snorted On'ai.

"But the last crystal—"

"Let them take care of it! If they're that desperate to save the world, they'll find a way to protect the crystal!"

"So says the Guardian who couldn't protect the first four," retorted Medetai.

"I will have you know, Medetai, that you and your friends were the reason why we lost them in the first place!" snapped On'ai. Turning to Tamashii, he then added, "And I would have had the fourth crystal if you listened to me! Obviously, the rules don't matter to you anymore, do they?"

"That's enough, On'ai!" roared Shi, snatching his weapon out of Medetai's hands.

He drew the sharp edge of his scythe up to the tip On'ai's bloodied nose and kept it leveled and steady with a firm grip on the handle. He sneered at him and then turned his gaze to Waraku, silently informing her that she, too, would share the same fate without hesitation if she continued to create more trouble within the group. "I'm tired of you two blaming us for your failure!" he seethed. "It's not entirely our fault you couldn't retrieve the first four crystals! You almost had them in your possession a few times, but what happened? Were you not strong enough to face the enemy on your own, even after you told us that you were more powerful than us?"

"Shut up, Shi!" hissed Waraku.

The scythe moved a centimeter closer toward On'ai, and Shi looked at his cousin as he warned her, "I'm not afraid to take your friend to his early grave!"

"Hold your tongue, Waraku!" ordered On'ai.

"But—" began Waraku.

"I mean it! I can't tell if he's bluffing or not, but I'm not gonna take the risk to find out! So, be a good girl and shut the fuck up if you know what's best for you!"

Tamashii and Iinaka looked at Waraku expectantly for some kind of reaction toward On'ai's vulgar command, but instead challenging Shi's threat, she quietly bowed her head in submission and fixed her eyes on her boots. They exchanged glances for a split second before they returned their attention to Waraku. "I don't get it," murmured Iinaka. "Neither Ami nor Waraku would have submitted like that! What happened?"

"I have no clue," replied Tamashii.

"Well, I'm glad someone sees it my way," drawled Shi as he watched Waraku give into On'ai's order from the corner of his eye. "Now, On'ai, we know you're not any different than the rest of us. Your power is just as strong as ours, and your tactic to fight Myoujou outside the big picture is rather brilliant. But all you had to do was to ask for help. We were more than willing to assist you and Waraku."

"Is that so? You could have fooled me when you told me to—what did you say again?—get off your turf after I gave you the power to defeat the harpy!" returned On'ai.

"It might have taken a long time to adjust myself to the idea, but I would have given you a second chance to redeem yourself to me!"

"How? By following your orders just to prove that your way is the right way?" snorted On'ai. "I'm sorry, Shi, but that's one game I won't play!"

"Then, I'm afraid your presence is no longer welcome here!" growled Shi.

"That's fine with me," said On'ai. "We'll be returning to Tokyo at the end semester, but the fate of this school is now resting in your hands."

"You mean you're not gonna look for the fifth crystal?" gasped Iinaka.

"Why should we? The crystals were a cover-up for us to use until the time came for me to hand over Tamashii's memories to her, but now that it's over, you can go back and protect your precious little university while we prepare our return home."

"You can't be serious!" cried Tamashii.

"I am. I'm sorry, Tamashii, but as long as you continue to be closed-minded to our ideas, we can never be allies."

On'ai looked over his left shoulder at Waraku, who was still waiting quietly to hear his next command, and then said, "Let's go."

Tamashii watched the two Angelic Guardians walk through the dark hallway toward the staircase to the first floor above her, but just as she began to follow them, Shi placed his scythe in front of her as a barricade. "Don't even think about it," he said evenly.

"But—"

"You heard what On'ai said," said Inochi. "There's no point trying to make them join us if they think our way of dealing with Myoujou is wrong. And even if you were successful, I doubt they would stick around much longer if their only reason to come to Oukan was to give you back your memories. So, just leave them be, Tamashii."

Tamashii looked back at On'ai's and Waraku's retreating forms before they disappeared into the shadows of the basement, but her eyes were solely fixed on On'ai as she thought about the past he had revealed to her. After years of what she believed him to be a teenage crush, he showed her that he was more than a boy who caught her eye on the first day of school: he was her first love, a title that she had reserved for Robu. _And now I've lost him again,_ she thought.


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

Coming to Terms – A Roommate's Advice!

The crisp autumn air of late October slowly turned to a cold, wet early November as the monsoon season rolled across the country. Many farmers and forecasters predicted several heavy rainfalls throughout the month with flooding in rural lowlands of the southwestern coast, followed by a harsh winter season by early January, but the Kanto region experienced a steady rain shower on a daily basis with a sunny yet humid break in the middle of the afternoon.

Raindrops tapped lightly against the windows along the far wall of the social lounge as Deibiddo sat at his piano, diligently and silently working on a new song. Mastered fingers ran softly over the white and black ivory keys, creating a beautiful melody beneath the tips, but he would stop his movements every few measures to erase a chord on his sheet music that did not sound right to his ears. _Damn! I thought I had it!_ he thought.

He heard the doors to the fishbowl open on the other side of the room, and he looked over his left shoulder to see Raian and his roommate walking toward the billiard tables. When Raian cast a glance at the pianist, he stopped in his tracks without breaking eye contact. _Looks like I came downstairs at the wrong time,_ he told himself. _I should have known he'd be here._

The gentle shaking of his roommate's hand on his left shoulder snapped Raian out of his thoughts, but Raian said nothing as he pushed it away and turned around to go back to their room in the adjoining wing. "Hey, man! What's going on?" he heard his roommate ask.

"Nothing," replied Raian. "I just don't feel like playing billiards at the moment."

"But it's Saturday!"

"I'm sorry, but not today. Maybe tomorrow."

Deibiddo sadly watched Raian walk through the empty fishbowl lobby alone with his roommate standing at the entrance in confusion. Letting out a heavy sigh, he shifted his attention back to his assignment and began to write down another chord combination.

In the library café, Megu and Jeison were quietly sipping on their lattes in the corner when something caught Megu's attention. She turned her head toward the checkout counter and saw Ami purchasing a small cup of coffee. She started to rise from her seat, but Jeison quickly shot his arm across the table and placed his right hand over hers without saying a word.

Megu looked back at him, and she noticed his blue-hazel eyes were as cold as his demeanor. Ever since they discovered Ami's secret and the truth behind her transfer to Oukan University, Jeison had developed an edgy behavior around everyone he knew, which not only worried his fraternity brothers but also Megu herself. It was not like Jeison to act on impulse; she had always associated that flaw with Shi. However, she started to question if the Angel of Death had fully consumed his mortal vessel.

She pulled her hand away in reluctance, knowing that it would be futile to argue against her older cousin's authority, but she cast one final glance at the girl whom she considered to be her long-time best friend.

Ami felt her fiery cousin's sad gaze when she entered the café and placed her order with the clerk. She almost gave into the urge to approach Megu and apologize for her abnormal attitude, but when she saw Jeison stopping Megu from leaving the table, her longing was replaced with a great sense of hurt. Taking the steaming Styrofoam cup into her right hand and her student ID from the clerk with her left, she exited the café in a rush before the tears in her eyes could begin to fall.

Behind the auditorium in the practice room of the performing arts building, Beronika watched her selected group of dancers work on their routine for the annual senior showcase, which was scheduled toward the end of the month. After weeks of creating each dancer's costume and determining the choreography that was appropriate for her song, she thought she was making great progress, but she instead found herself feeling unsatisfied with their performance.

_"No! Not like that!"_

_ "Pivot faster!"_

_ "You're too slow!"_

_ "Can't you do anything right?"_

"This is unbelievable!" she muttered as she began to collect her gym bag and her small CD player after dismissing the group for the evening.

"No, B—_you're_ unbelievable!"

Beronika turned around and saw Raura leaning against the metal doorframe of the practice room with a scowl on her face. "I don't understand what's going on with you! It's like you became a totally different person these last few weeks!" she continued.

"How so?" asked Beronika tiredly.

"Come on, B! You know better than to ask me that! We've been friends for over a year now, and it's not like you to have a mean streak!" answered Raura as she walked across the room to join her roommate on the wall bench.

"I'm just going through a rough time right now," justified Beronika.

"Rough time or not, you shouldn't have to take your frustrations out on us by biting our heads off every time we practice! Seriously, what's going on?"

Taking a deep breath, Beronika replied, "Just some unnecessary drama."

"Unnecessary drama, huh? It wouldn't happen to involve Rizu and your other friends, would it?" inquired Raura.

She saw the hesitance in Beronika's eyes, and when her roommate refused to answer her question by pursing her lips together, she nodded her head and rose to her feet. "I see," she drawled. "But just because you've got some drama on your back doesn't mean you have to make me one of your punching bags. I'm more than just a dancer in your group, B! I'm your roommate _and_ your best friend! If you need to vent at someone, I'll listen, but don't act like a snapping turtle around the rest of us, okay? You nearly had the whole squad walk out on you tonight."

"I did?" asked Beronika.

"You did, but we only stuck around because we knew how much this showcase means to you. Trust me, we're doing the best we can with your routine. We just need you to work with us by being a good team player, or in this case, a good coach."

Beronika could not suppress the small laugh in the back of her throat, and she nodded her head in agreement. "I guess you're right," she confessed. "I'm sorry for putting you guys through hell with my behavior. I shouldn't have snapped at every mistake you made. I know it wasn't your fault. Maybe I need somebody to keep me in line until the big night."

"Hey, what are roommates for?" teased Raura.

On the other side of her window, Rizu watched the afternoon shower turn into a heavy downpour as she sat in front of her laptop with library books about Edgar Allen Poe scattered across her desk. She made a quick trip to the food court to grab a sandwich from the grille to help her focus on her term paper, but four hours and a leftover pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream later, she had only accomplished one thing.

She was able to type out the cover page of her assignment.

With the great fallout rooted deeply in her mind, she found it extremely difficult to focus on her studies, which worried most of her professors greatly. Her grades began to slip, her perfect attendance shattered after skipping an entire's day worth of classes because of fatigue, and her high energy level was now at an all-time low. She sometimes had trouble staying awake in the classroom and often excused herself to find the nearest vending machine for a cola.

She felt drained—physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually—from being stressed out the maximum, but her fatigue was also caused by a lack of sleep. Her lost memories had begun to haunt her in her dreams, and she would wake up in the middle of the night to either mourn for the loss of the Minor Angelic Guardians or escape from the tender moments she shared with Raian. Although there would be tears in her eyes every time she snapped out of her nightmares, she forced herself not to cry if it meant disturbing Keitorin from her slumber.

_How could I have been so stupid?_ she thought as she laid aside _The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe_ next to her laptop and continued to stare at the rainfall outside. _It's my fault everything ended up this way. I can't believe I made that decision, all because I wanted to be a normal girl again. If only I could take it back._

_ "And then what? Pick up where your past life ended and go from there?" _snorted Tamashii's voice from the back of Rizu's mind. _"Even if you could, you'll destroy everything you created since then, including your friendship with Robu!"_

_ But I'd be with Raian again, and our old team would still be around!_

_ "Your old team was called the Minor Angelic Guardians for a reason, Rizu. They were not carriers of true Seed Crystals like you and Raian. Their loyalties weren't with Shinmei from the get-go. They only became Angelic Guardians to protect Raian, their leader and their best friend. It would only be a matter of time before they were killed._

_ "And for Shinmei's sake, why are you still pining for Raian, consider after what he did to you? You're over him! You found Robu! Besides, didn't Raian tell you that it was a mistake that your relationship with him happened?"_

_ That was On'ai, not Raian!_

_ "They're the same person, Rizu! The point is you're gonna put yourself in a self-destructive situation if you continue to dwell on the what if's! And what about Robu? Don't you know how much he cares for you, despite the fact he nearly killed you this summer? Think of the pain you'd put him through if you left him for an old flame who can't and won't love you again! What kind of friend would do such a thing?"_

"Damn you, Tamashii," grumbled Rizu.

Keitorin's ears perked up when she heard her roommate mumbling under her breath, and she looked over her right shoulder out of curiosity to see what had gotten Rizu frustrated with her term paper. "Eh?" she asked.

"Nothing," answered Rizu.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

_Not really._ "I'm fine."

Keitorin eyed her roommate suspiciously. Over the course of the semester, she would secretly study Rizu's habits and behavior, and she soon came to the conclusion that Rizu was too private for her own good. She was also aware that Rizu had been showing signs of a possible breakdown and that her grades were suffering because of her condition. _It's not healthy for her to keep her emotions bottled up like this,_ she thought. _She needs to let them go._

Looking back at her computer screen, she then said aloud, "You can't hide behind that mask of yours."

"I'm not wearing a mask!" huffed Rizu.

Keitorin rolled her eyes as she turned her chair around to face Rizu, but she ended up talking to her back instead. "Rizu, I might be a weirdo, but I'm not stupid," she said. "I know something's up with you, and don't even think about denying it either! I've woken up to the sound of your screams while you were having a nightmare, I've seen you asleep at your computer because of said nightmares, and I know you've been skipping out on your classes because I come back and you're still in your pajamas! What's the big deal?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? Rizu, I'm your roommate, and as weird as it sounds, you're the only true friend I've got around here! I want you to be happy with your life because when you're happy, I'm happy!"

"But I don't even know you!" exclaimed Rizu.

"That's because you never tried to know me," answered Keitorin coldly. "You're always doing something that doesn't involve me, and I've been hurt because of it. I'm sure you have your reasons, but that doesn't mean you have to exclude me every time. I want to hang out with Deibiddo, Beronika, and your other friends; I want to be friends with them! I want to be friends with you, but all you do is blow me off with your attitude! I'm getting sick and tired of this nonsense!

"I'm here to be your friend, Rizu. As a roommate, I should keep my nose out of your business and respect your privacy, but as a friend, I have every right to be concerned about your health. I want to help you if you're willing."

"And if I don't need your help?" asked Rizu.

"Then, I'll leave you to wallow around in your self-pity," finished Keitorin.

Rizu leaned back into her seat as she contemplated her roommate's offer. She wanted to tell Keitorin everything that had been going on, but she knew she would have to explain why she connected better with her group of friends, why she was out almost every night, and why she was having nightmares of her past and how they've affected her present. The knowledge that Keitorin had no Seed Crystal also put her at a disadvantage. Telling a mortal like Keitorin the whole truth also meant revealing her secret identity, which was something she vowed to never happen again after placing Robu in the crossfire between her and Myoujou.

_But she wants to help me out,_ she thought. _Maybe I could tell her a few things, just as long as I don't mention anything about me being Tamashii or the Angelic Guardians. After all, most of my problems do involve Raian, not On'ai._

"Well?" prodded Keitorin.

Rizu said nothing as she turned her chair around and stared at the girl across from her. "You can help me out, but don't expect me to tell you my entire life story," she replied.

"I wouldn't ask you of such thing if I knew you'd be uncomfortable telling it to someone you hardly trust. All I want to know is why you've been so depressed," said Keitorin.

With a reluctant sigh escaping from her lips, Rizu lowered her eyes to her lap and nervously played with her fingers as she shifted in her chair. "I don't know where to begin," she said quietly.

"You're in love, aren't you?" asked Keitorin.

"How did you know?"

"I can tell you're being pulled by two forces, and I know you've shown interest in two different men. One of them happens to be that guy I saw with you last month, no?"

"That guy happens to be my ex-boyfriend!" growled Rizu.

"And you're still friends with him?"

"I'm not sure. Hell, I'm not so sure of anything these days."

Keitorin closed her eyes and nodded her head in understanding. "I should have known," she said. "You fell for him again, didn't you?"

"I might have," confessed Rizu.

"Did he make you believe that he still had feelings for you?"

"Yes. I thought that maybe there was a chance that we could start over, but I guess I was wrong."

"What gave you that impression? There was, too, a chance!"

"No, there wasn't," sighed Rizu. "After I graduated from high school, I came here for university, and, a year later, Raian began his freshman year at Tokyo. Something happened in those two years, and he realized that what we had in high school was just your typical teenage romance. There was no promise of a future between us, and he held onto that idea all through those two years we were separated. Imagine how I felt when he told me it could never happen again. He broke my heart, Keitorin. He really broke my heart."

Keitorin scooted closer to the edge of her seat and said softly, "Rizu, I don't think Raian ever had your heart to begin with. When I first saw this guy, there was something about him that told me he wasn't good for you. I mean in a boyfriend kind of way! He's not really your type, and I'm sure he can agree with me on that.

"Frankly, Rizu, you two are better off being friends, and I think that's exactly what Raian wants from you right now—a solid friendship. If you try and pursue a renewed relationship with him, you're gonna end up chasing him away and out of your life for good. I don't think you want that to happen. So, just listen to me and accept the truth: your relationship is dead. Don't even think about resurrecting it. It's not worth the tears."

"I'm not resurrecting it!" cried Rizu. "It's just—"

"Don't lie to me, Rizu," said Keitorin tiredly. "I know you want to try again. It's natural for former lovers to do such a thing! But if Raian isn't budging now, he'll never will. I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to get over him."

Leaning back into her seat, she curled her lips into a knowing smirk and added, "Then, there's that issue with—what's his name again? Robu?"

Rizu's head snapped up, and she felt her face turn red as if her secret had been exposed to the whole world. "I don't have any issues with Robu!" she hissed defensively.

"Come on, Rizu, it's obvious you have feelings for him! When I watched you put that package together for his birthday, I noticed that there were two gifts—one from you and one from your friends. It gave me the impression that you see him as more than just a good friend."

"Your point?"

"I might not know the guy, but something tells me that he'd be a better boyfriend to you than Raian could ever be, even if Raian was willing to give you a second chance."

"Whatever gives you that idea?" snorted Rizu.

"I can sense some good energies every time you mention Robu's name around me. That and you get rather defensive whenever he's brought up into conversation, like right now," replied Keitorin. "There's a reason why you weren't meant to be with Raian, and I think—well, I would like to think—that Robu is that reason."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Rizu gave her roommate a small smile and stood up to grab her black hoodie in her armoire, but before she could take another step, Keitorin's hand shot up and grabbed her by the wrist. "Rizu, I just want to let you know that I'll be here whenever you need someone to talk to. I want to understand you better because you're like a puzzle to me, and I'm now starting to figure out where exactly the pieces fit," said Keitorin.

"So, am I now some kind of pet project for your psychology classes?" snorted Rizu.

"No," laughed Keitorin. "This has nothing to do with psychology. This is just a much needed intervention between friends."

"I see."

Rizu looked out the window and noticed the rain had reduced to a light mist on the other side of the glass. "I'm gonna take a walk along the river," she announced. "I've got a lot on my mind, and I just need to find a quiet place to think, you know?"

"I understand," said Keitorin. "Give me a call if you need anything."

"Likewise."

After making a quick trip to the coffeehouse in the Village, Rizu walked along the length of the river on the outskirts of downtown Roganu until she arrived at her favorite spot that overlooked the water above the bank. She rested her arms on the cast-iron railing and watched the calm, steady current roll past her as she sipped on her hot cocoa in silence. There was still a light mist lingering around the city, but Rizu ignored it by keeping her head dry with the help of a black cotton hood over her face.

She was too entranced with the scenery before her that she nearly dropped her Styrofoam cup into the river when she heard Geiburieru's voice from out of nowhere. "You know you're gonna catch a cold if you stay out here any longer," he admonished.

"I'm pretty sure I'm already sick as it is," grumbled Rizu, watching the archangel taking the empty spot along the railing to her right. She noticed that he was wearing a black raincoat and a red scarf around his neck to protect himself from the cold mist, and she arched her right eyebrow when she realized he did not have an umbrella in his possession. "Then again, I could say the same about you," she added. "Aren't _you_ gonna catch a cold?"

"Sickness does not exist to the immortal mind," drawled Geiburieru. "You, however, can't escape from a world filled with diseases. Your half-breed blood makes you vulnerable to even the deadliest virus known to man, and for that reason, you should have been taking better care of yourself."

"I doubt I'm gonna get any worse just because I decided to take a walk in the rain," snorted Rizu. "What are you doing here?"

"Just seeing how you were handling since your fallout with On'ai and Waraku," replied Geiburieru.

"And how do you think I'm handling?"

"Considering you've self-destructed and fell into another case of depression, I think you might have finally cracked. Although, I can't say that I blame you. I would have probably reacted the same way if I were in your shoes."

Rizu smirked into her cup and mused to herself. "This is nothing compared to the time I was chasing after Jeison and Deibiddo," she said.

"No, it's not," agreed Geiburieru. "In fact, I'd say it's greater than even the time when Robu was tricked by Deiraira this past summer."

"I'm sure my memories have something to do with my condition," mumbled Rizu.

"They do, and I also know that they've been the cause of your nightmares and your lack of sleep," said Geiburieru. "But, Rizu, you have to understand that we couldn't wait any longer to keep hiding the truth from you. We would have told you eventually, but it would have been too late."

"But why now? Why not after I've graduated?"

Geiburieru looked down at Rizu thoughtfully and asked, "Well, what if we told you the truth while you were in the middle of a relationship with, say, Robu? How would he feel if he found out that you dated your high school crush after all this time and lost your virginity to him when you told Robu differently?"

"He's gonna be upset with me either way! I lied to him!" cried Rizu.

"You didn't lie to him. You only told him what you believed was the truth because of your alterations. I'm sure that once you've explained everything to him, he'll understand, considering that both he and Raian are Angelic Guardians and that anything concerning Shinmei is far from ordinary.

"To be honest with you, I was gonna be the one to break the news to you, but Shinmei felt that it would have been best for Raian to be the messenger instead. I mean he is your ex-boyfriend."

"And Shinmei thought that by having Raian to play his little messenger, I wouldn't have to track him down throughout campus and make myself a complete fool out of myself, no?" continued Rizu.

"Precisely."

"We could have left the whole thing alone."

"But that would have meant leaving the prophecy half-fulfilled."

"So, you did it because of a prophecy, huh?" spat Rizu.

"The return of your memories was part of the prophecy, and the time has come to fulfill it. You're gonna have to accept these memories and the consequences of your decision, whether you like it or not. You also have to get over the fact that you and Raian were never meant to be. There are things that happen in life that just can't be explained for whatever reason, but I'm a firm believer that you two were supposed to meet in this lifetime, just not as soul mates."

"But rather as teammates?" scoffed Rizu. "Geiburieru, he doesn't want to join the team or form an alliance with us!"

"Trust me, Rizu, he will. There's only one thing that's stopping him from doing so, though."

"What's that?"

"Something that was always reminding him of his true mission, and now it no longer has any say in Raian's agenda."

Rizu thought about the archangel's clue as the image of Waraku submitting to On'ai's command during their confrontation with her and her friends popped into her mind. Looking back at Geiburieru, she shook her head in denial and said, "There's no way Ami was holding him back!"

"She was. She kept pushing Raian to give you back your memories as soon as possible, but Raian waited too long. That's how Jeison found out they were On'ai and Waraku. He heard them arguing because Raian had yet to carry out his assignment, and Ami was getting impatient with him.

"Now that his mission is fulfilled, she has no one to turn to except for Raian, but I'm afraid he's gonna do all he can to make sure that she only obeys him until they get a new assignment. Your best bet to make Raian your ally is to befriend Ami and convince her to join the team."

"But that's impossible! Jeison practically shunned her!" argued Rizu.

"No, he didn't. Shi shunned Waraku. Jeison would never do such a thing to family, even to one of his two favorite distant cousins," assured Geiburieru with a smirk. "Don't worry, Rizu. Ami can only take so much of Raian's dominance before she has a nervous breakdown. Just be on the lookout the next time you see them together."

"I will," promised Rizu.

"Now, do me a favor and go back to your room."

"But—"

"No buts, Rizu. You're sick, and you're gonna get worse come morning."

"You don't know that!"

"You'd be surprised. Now, go."

"Alright," muttered Rizu.

Throwing away her empty cup into the nearest trash can, she shoved her hands inside the front pockets of her jacket and sulked all the way back to her residence complex. Geiburieru, however, stayed behind and looked over his right shoulder at the river on the other side of the railing. He could see the outline of a male spirit above the current, and his lips curved into a knowing smile as the spirit returned his acknowledgment. "I hope this works, Sir," he said aloud.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

A Change of Plans – Ami's Apology!

By sunrise the following morning, Rizu was almost certain Geiburieru had foreseen what was to come. She opened her armoire and looked at her reflection in the mirror that was hung on the back of the right door. Her skin was sickly shade of white—_whiter than Robu's,_ she mentally added—and the dark circles around her eyes reminded her of those of a raccoon's. Her cinnamon blonde curls were frizzy and tangled from her sleep, her lips were bright red in contrast to her ghostly pale complexion, and despite of wearing a pair of flannel pants and a black Mangetsu T-shirt in a warm room, she started to shiver.

She trudged across the room to the thermostat next to her window, carefully stepping over her messenger bag and briefcase without waking up Keitorin, and noticed that it was set to the warmest setting possible. _Shinmei, why isn't this place feeling a sauna? I should be sweating like a pig, not freezing like an icicle! What's up with that?_ she pondered.

Heavy rain battered against the glass, and she frowned at the dreary sight of another rainy day. _This just wonderful, _she mused sardonically. _What better time to be sick than now? Maybe I should have stayed inside yesterday. I'm sure I would have met up with Geiburieru one way or another._

A painful cough suddenly rose from her lungs, startling Keitorin from her sleep. "Rizu, are you okay?" she asked groggily.

"Yeah," moaned Rizu. "I think I might have caught a cold from my walk last night. Sorry for waking you up."

"It's no problem," mumbled Keitorin before she rolled over onto her side. "Just don't make any noise for another half-hour, okay?"

"Sure. I'll be in the shower if you need me."

Several minutes later, Rizu turned on the taps in her shower stall and let the warm stream cascade over her body as her thoughts lingered toward the prophecy and what she must do to fulfill it. _How am I gonna do it all before I leave for the holiday next month?_ she asked herself. _I still need to look for the last crystal, and I have to find a way to unite On'ai and Waraku with the others in order to defeat the Lady of the Snakes. Why do I need them—"_

Without warning, her body temperature suddenly dropped, and she began to experience another chill spell. _That's odd,_ she thought as she watched the steam linger above her head in the air. _I shouldn't be getting cold! What the hell is wrong with me?_

She hastily finished her shower and reached for her bathrobe next to the cream privacy curtain after rinsing out the heavy layer of conditioner in her hair. As she gathered her belongings, she heard the heavy door outside the showers slam shut, and she peered around the corner to see Keitorin shuffling toward the last restroom stall at the end of the row.

Knowing how long it usually took her roommate to use the toilet, she quietly crept into the hallway and ran to her room, hoping that Keitorin would not see her ghastly appearance when she was finished. She took off her bathrobe and slipped into a pair of blue jean flares, a pair of pink and purple-stripped fuzzy socks, and a gray Oukan University sweatshirt, but shortly after she had poked her head through the collar, she was hit with another chilling sensation.

Keitorin returned from the washroom a few minutes later and found Rizu sitting at her desk with a blue flannel blanket wrapped around her body. "H-h-hi," greeted Rizu through clattering teeth.

"Rizu, what's wrong with you?" exclaimed Keitorin as she closed the door behind her.

"N-n-nothing!"

"Nothing? I've got the temperature set on high, and here you are bundled up in a blanket! It's not that cold in here! Do you have the flu or something?"

"N-n-no! I-I-I'm j-j-jusah… ah… AH-CHOO!"

Keitorin sighed in exasperation and said to Rizu straightforwardly, "You're sick."

Rising to her feet, Rizu said defensively, "It-sa… ah… AH-CHOO! A cold."

"There's no way you've got a cold! You're shaking like you're having a seizure, girl! The common cold is _nothing_ like what's going on right now!"

Keitorin pushed Rizu down into her chair and pulled out a small First-Aid kit from beneath her bed. "I don't know why you're so cold, but I'm gonna find out," she said before she shoved a digital thermometer into her roommate's mouth.

Rizu shot her a dirty look and grunted in protest.

Chill spells soon turned into hot flashes as the day grew, and Keitorin would shake her head every time Rizu had to take off her sweatshirt and walk around the room with a black tank top in lieu of a bra. She also rejected Rizu's plea to turn down the heat in such occasions, firmly stating that messing around with the dial could cause problems with the heating unit for the entire complex. "I'm sorry, Rizu, but you're gonna have to deal with this," she said.

"But it's too hot in here!" whined Rizu.

"No, it's not. Your body thinks it is because you're sick! I wish I knew what's wrong with you, but every time I take your temperature, you seem to be doing okay inside."

"Okay? Okay? I'm burning up over here, and you have the balls to tell me that I'm doing okay?" snapped Rizu.

She grabbed Keitorin's right hand and placed it on top of her arm. "Tell me you can't feel that!" she demanded.

"I can't," replied Keitorin.

"You can't?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't feel a thing. You feel… normal."

"Normal? This is _not_ normal!" cried Rizu.

"Look, if I were you, I wouldn't go out for the rest of the day unless you _absolutely_ have to."

"But—"

"I mean it!" said Keitorin. "I don't want you to go outside and make yourself sicker or spread whatever you've got to other people! And if this means I have to strap you down to your chair or to your bed to get my point across, then I will! Besides, don't you have an English Literature term paper to finish?"

Grumbling under her breath, Rizu flopped down into her chair and opened her assignment in a word processing program on her laptop. "This sucks!" she muttered.

"I heard that," said Keitorin from her computer station.

Rizu looked over her left shoulder and said scathingly, "You were supposed to!"

Not only did Keitorin keep Rizu confined to their room all afternoon, but she also turned away those who wanted to visit with Rizu. Deibiddo knocked three times near sunset to see if Rizu wanted to have dinner with him at the food court before he left for a study session at Megu's house, and he arched his eyebrow when he saw a message written by Keitorin on Rizu's side of the dry-erase board on the door. _"Do not disturb". I wonder what's up with that,_ he thought.

Keitorin opened the door on the other side and blushed when she realized who was standing in front of her. "_Konbanwa,_ Deibiddo!" she answered hastily.

"_Konbanwa,_" he returned with a nod. "Is Rizu here?"

"Yes, but she's kinda… indisposed at the moment."

"Indisposed?"

"She's been sick—"

"I'm not sick!" interjected Rizu. "I'm just going between hot and cold, and I get the urge to sneeze every once in a while!"

"That's a sure sign that you've got something going on," said Deibiddo, stepping over the threshold to get a closer look at Rizu.

"I've tried to tell her that, but she won't listen!" snorted Keitorin.

"I swear I'm fine!" insisted Rizu as she stood up from her chair with her flannel blanket covering her body.

Deibiddo looked at her in disbelief and said, "You can't be _that_ cold! This room is like a sauna without the steam!"

"Deibiddo, seriously, who are you gonna believe: me—your friend—or my roommate?" asked Rizu.

"I hate to tell you this, Rizu, but you're sick," replied Deibiddo.

"I'm glad someone agrees with me," said Keitorin.

She grabbed Deibiddo by the arm and escorted him out of the room. "I'm sorry, Deibiddo, but to make sure we don't spread an epidemic across campus, don't bother Rizu unless this is an emergency. If she needs anything from you or your friends, I'll let you know, okay? _Sayonara!_"

Deibiddo began to protest, but his voice was drowned out by the loud sound of the heavy door slamming shut in his face. Sighing in resignation, he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and walked toward the direction of his room in the adjoining hall. "Poor Rizu," he murmured. "Having a crazy roommate like Keitorin would make me sick too."

Deep inside the ninth ring of Hell, Medosa stood inside a circle of candles with her pet python hanging loose around her neck. In her hands was a book she had stolen from Myoujou's chambers that was entitled _Tome of Mythological Deities and Creatures_, which was filled with the names of popular Greek deities who were silenced and sealed away by the rise of _kirisutokyou_ and monotheism and the incantations to summon them. Only a few creatures were freed from their exile due to their powerful abilities yet inferiority to Myoujou, including the Minotaur who guarded the seventh ring of Hell until he was recruited by Kasushiusu to stop the Angelic Guardians in their quest to save Shi but died shortly after being outwitted by Tamashii and Inochi. Deities such as Zeusu and Myoujou's Greek rival Hadesu, however, were left alone for personal reasons.

The python's black eyes hovered over an ancient Greek depiction of Hadesu, and the snake darted its tongue in approval. "I know, my precious pet, but you won't have to wait much longer," cooed Medosa. "The last crystal has been located, and as soon as I get my hands on it and put an end to _kirisutokyou_, I will restore the earth back to its Greek roots."

The snake turned its head to its mistress, and an evil chuckle rumbled in the back of Medosa's throat. "And what will become of the Angelic Guardians, you ask?" she inquired as she stroked underneath her pet's chin with her index finger. "I think I'll let Zeusu and his siblings deal with them, considering Shinmei's the one who tricked the world into believing that he was the one true Ruler of Heaven."

"Medosa!"

Red smoke suddenly filled the chamber, and Medosa dropped her python in her haste to cover her face with her cloak. _Zeusu's lightning bolts, he could have at least knocked,_ she thought as she pulled the hood over her head. With a wave of her right hand, the candles disappeared into thin air, but she had forgotten that she still had Myoujou's book tucked underneath her left arm when the smoke faded away.

Myoujou's beastly figure emerged from the shadows, and he stepped forward to speak with the Gorgon with a scowl on his face. His eyes lingered to his book and growled dangerously when he caught a glimpse of the title. "What are you doing with that book?" he snarled.

"I'm just, um…looking for ideas for my next monster!" lied Medosa.

"Ran out of recruits from your army already? How pitiful," tutted Myoujou.

"Yes, well, you know how powerful the Angelic Guardians are," said Medosa with a nervous laugh. "I'm just looking for a monster that could put them where I want them!"

"And that would be?"

"In my possession! I intend to include them as the latest addition to my statue garden! Consider it as my way to clear your path toward universal domination! Surely, you'd want that!"

"I prefer to have them dead than pillars of stone," snorted Myoujou. "However, since you've proven yourself worthy to my cause, I'll trust your word. Just don't think about calling upon the likes of Hadesu to do your dirty work."

"Me, summoning Hadesu? Ha! I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing!" laughed Medosa.

"Let's hope you don't."

Myoujou stepped back into the shadows of the chambers and disappeared to his throne, leaving the Gorgon alone with her thoughts. Medosa pulled out the book from under her arm and flipped it open to an incantation that she was sure would free the Greek deities from their imprisonment. "Trust me, Myoujou, I don't need to dream," she purred.

From her window on the third floor, Rizu watched Keitorin and several of her friends from the Oukan University Fencing Club exit the fishbowl lobby to spend a couple hours at the library for a study session. She waited until the group was out of sight before she snatched her student ID and her keys and shoved them into the front pockets of her hoodie. Just as she reached up to pull the cotton material over her head, she heard her stomach growl with anticipation.

Keitorin had forbidden her from stepping out of the room for the rest of the evening unless she had to use the communal washroom. If she was hungry, Keitorin promised to take the chore of going to the nearest dining hall and buy a snack that would not upset her stomach. If she had planned to do laundry before bedtime, Keitorin was more than willing to do the chore for her. "Anything to keep you from creating an outbreak," she would insist.

_Outbreak, my ass,_ fumed Rizu to herself as she walked down the main staircase across from her old room. _It would be an outbreak if she caught it and left the building more often! It's amazing she isn't sick!_

When she stepped outside into the light rain shower, she spotted Raian and Ami from the corner of her eye trudging up the incline in front of the bicycle racks. She opened her mouth to get their attention, but before she could say anything, they disappeared behind the tall bushes at the end of the parking lot across from her. _I wonder where they're going,_ she thought.

She quietly followed them past the all-women's residence complex and the auditorium, hiding behind markers such as trees and structure supports to conceal herself from their view. At the corner of the scramble light, she peered around one of the pillars at the entrance of the auditorium and waited until they were walking by the Kenji Oukan Building on the other side of the street before she continued her trek.

By the time she reached outside walls of the west wing, she stopped in her tracks and spotted the duo in front of the east entrance to the art museum. Ami stepped forward with her palms facing out and placed them on the rough, stony surface. A few seconds passed, and, much to Rizu's utter amazement, Ami's fingers had suddenly turned blue. _Could she be looking for the last crystal?_ she pondered.

"It's here," affirmed Ami to Raian. "I can feel its presence within these walls."

"I should have known the art museum would possess a crystal," said Raian. "It was the last of the five buildings to be dedicated to the Oukan brothers, this one honoring Gorou Oukan. I wouldn't be surprised if Myoujou plans to search every inch of this place tonight."

Ami lowered her arms and sighed heavily under her breath. "I still don't understand why you decided to go ahead and look for the last crystal when you gave the responsibility to Tamashii and her friends," she said. "It almost sounds as if you don't think they're capable of protecting it from Myoujou."

"I know they're not," snorted Raian, "but since we can't go home until the holidays, we might as well make this our last hurrah and do our best to stay alive until then."

"But Myoujou is gonna be looking for the crystal too! He's bound to have a trap waiting for us on the other side of these doors! Wouldn't it be a wise idea to tell the others about this?"

"We don't need their help, Ami! We can protect the crystal ourselves without their interference!" snapped Raian as he jerked his head toward his companion's direction.

"But even if they didn't interfere in the past, would we still have been able to keep the other four from falling into Myoujou's hands?" challenged Ami.

"What are you trying to say?"

"We've have many opportunities to collect those crystals, and we've missed them all, two of which we had the upper hand before they were taken by the Lady of the Snakes! I know you gave up the last crystal because of Tamashii, and you didn't put up much of a fight against her after Shi and Inochi rescued me from that centaur! It's your fault we've been losing the crystals, not Tamashii's! Her involvement with our mission was a pathetic excuse to hide your failure—"

"Shut up!" barked Raian.

Before he knew it, the back of his right hand collided against Ami's cheek, and he watched in horror as she fell down to the cement with a red imprint on the right side of her face. He looked at his hand for a moment and then back at the crying girl at his feet. "Ami," he began softly.

"Leave me alone!" screamed Ami, reaching up to protect her swollen cheekbone from another blow as she rose to her feet.

"Ami, I'm sorry—"

"Just forget it, Raian!"

She blindly ran past her companion and cried until she collided with another body behind the Kenji Oukan Building. She lifted her glasses to dry her eyes and stuttered in between sniffles, "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry! I w-w-wasn't p-p-paying—"

"Ami."

Ami looked straight ahead and saw Rizu standing in front of her with a small smile gracing her lips. "Oh, Rizu, I didn't mean to bump into you!" she apologized.

"I saw what Raian did to you," said Rizu. "Don't worry. It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not! I've made a mess of everything because of him, and now my cousins don't want to have anything to do with me!" cried Ami.

"That's not true!" argued Rizu as she placed her hands on Ami's shoulders. "I'm sure if you make amends with them, the three of you will be on speaking terms again."

"I don't know. Jeison seemed persistent yesterday about keeping Megu at a distance from me."

"But if you apologize to him, he's bound to forgive you quicker than if you were apologizing to him as Shi. Jeison cared about you long before he knew you were Waraku, and I don't think he's one to hold long-term grudges unlike Shi. As a matter of fact, he's just as torn about this as you and Megu are, perhaps more torn than anything."

"How would you know?"

"I have my ways," replied Rizu. "Come on, Ami. Let's get you out of this rain."

"Where are we going?" asked Ami.

"We're gonna pay a little visit."

"When will this rain stop?" whined Megu as she looked out from her bedroom window.

"Probably when the first snowflake falls," replied Beronika as she flipped over a page in her Theatre History 100 textbook. "Man, I'm not looking forward to this Theatre final!"

"It's only a few weeks away, B," said Jeison. "I don't know why you're so uptight about studying for your final now. You haven't even finished your term assignment!"

"But I'm not familiar with theatre, and I have to pass this class in order to get my performing arts credit! I'm just mad that I couldn't take Dance History 100!"

"Why couldn't you?" asked Megu.

"Because it's against the curriculum for those pursing a degree in dance," grumbled Beronika. "Most of the material from Dance History 100 is covered in the beginning courses from the dance department, and—"

"And if a dance student took Dance History 100, he would most likely ace the class without having to study," finished Deibiddo from behind his Music Practicum 395 textbook. "The same goes for those focusing on art, music, and theatre. You can't take a general performing art history course from your chosen department as a core class."

"That's unfair," remarked Jeison.

"It is, but I understand why the school did it that way. Think of all the professors handing over their jobs to the students who took a similar departmental class when they began to work on their degrees."

"Point taken."

Beronika laid her book on the small table and let out a sad sigh. "It seems so quiet not having Rizu with us," she murmured. "Are you sure she's doing okay, Deibiddo?"

"I'd want to say she is, but when I stopped by her room to pick her up for dinner, she looked pretty bad," replied Deibiddo.

"How bad?" asked Megu.

"She was as white as a ghost. I mean whiter than Robu."

"She can't be that sick!" exclaimed Jeison.

"I'm afraid she is."

"I wonder what it could be," said Beronika.

"Whatever it is, Keitorin is doing her best to keep it contained to their room."

"Megu? Guys? Are you up here?"

Everyone at the table exchanged surprised glances at the sound of Rizu marching up the staircase on the other side of the door. Jeison turned to Deibiddo, silently demanding for an explanation. "I thought you said she was sick!" he hissed.

"She is!" insisted Deibiddo.

"Then, why is she doing here?"

"I don't know! She probably found a way to escape from Keitorin's eagle eye! I can't say that I blame her!"

"She better not be contagious," said Beronika.

The door flew open with a bang, and Rizu stepped inside the room, placing her hands on her hips as she approached the quartet. "We need to talk!" she said evenly.

"Rizu, what's gotten into you?" asked Megu.

"Nothing except I'm up to here with your attitude!" replied Rizu. "This has gone far too long!"

"What has?"

"Your behavior toward your cousin! I'm getting sick and tired of it!"

"If it's so much of a problem to you, why don't you go and be friends with Ami? I'm sure she'd love to have you in her group," said Jeison scathingly.

"Jeison, she doesn't have a group anymore! She doesn't have anybody anymore! She just wants her family back!" cried Rizu.

"What happened?" asked Deibiddo.

"She tried to convince Raian into letting us help them search for the last crystal since they can't leave until the end of the semester, but Raian went postal on her and hit her."

"He didn't!" gasped Megu.

"He did. I saw it with my own eyes," sighed Rizu.

"Well, she had it coming," snorted Jeison.

Rizu stormed around the table and yanked Jeison off his cushion by the collar of his shirt, glaring at him with eyes full of anger. "She didn't have anything coming, you _baka!_" she screamed. "She was only making sure Raian was carrying out his assignment! She didn't know he was gonna turn on her like this! She needs your support, Jeison! For Shinmei's sake, you're family! Doesn't that mean _anything_ to you? ANYTHING?"

"Rizu, calm down!" ordered Beronika.

"I will not calm until we get this matter resolved!"

"We will if you would just please let go of Jeison before you choke him!"

"You promise?"

"I promise! Now, let him go! Please!"

Rizu loosened her grip on the Angel of Death's collar and dropped him onto his cushion where he landed at her feet with a heavy "oomph" from his lips. "Now what?" she demanded.

"Did you bring Ami with you?" asked Beronika.

"She's in the hallway."

Beronika turned to the door and called to the young woman standing next to the white wooden frame, "You can come in, Ami! We won't hurt you!"

Ami hesitated to step inside and face her older cousin's tantrum, but when she peered into the room and saw Jeison nursing his neck from where the cotton material rubbed against his skin, she heard Waraku's voice in the back of her mind encouraging her to listen to Beronika. _"Go on, Ami. They don't mean any harm,"_ said Waraku.

No one at the table stood or voiced in protest. Instead, the quartet watched Ami approached them with caution as she held her hands in front of her. They saw the regret of her past actions in her blue eyes, but Jeison turned his gaze to the red mark that was on her right cheek. At first he could not see Raian's handprint, but he was soon able to make out the faded marking in his head. The thought of a man hitting a woman made his stomach churn, but knowing that the woman was none other than his own cousin angered him deeply.

Beronika saw Jeison's body tense up from the corner of her left eye, and she reached over to place a comforting hand over his. "Jeison, relax," she warned.

"I'm trying!" growled Jeison. "Just wait until I get my hands on that two-timing little bastard!"

Ami stopped a centimeter away from the edge of the table and took a deep breath. With a heavy sigh, she swallowed thickly and said, "I apologize for whatever I did wrong to you all. It was never my intention to cause such a rift between our groups. I only did what I was told to do—not by Shinmei, not by the other angels, but by Raian. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble during our mission, but now that I found out the real reason behind our relocation, Raian has no use for me anymore. I don't have a place to go, I don't have a team to turn to like Rizu does, and I can't do this by myself. I just want to make things right…"

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she turned to Megu and Jeison and choked out, "And I want my family back!"

She wept uncontrollably, and Rizu stepped forward to soothe her with words of comfort. "It's gonna be okay, Ami. It's gonna be okay," she whispered as she held Ami.

Beronika, Megu, and Deibiddo lowered their heads in shame without uttering a single word, but when they saw Jeison walking over to the sobbing girl across from him, they held their breath and waited for him to reduce her down to more tears. They were concerned for Ami after being cast aside like a ragdoll by her own companion, and they felt a pang of apprehension as Jeison stood in front of her with a blank expression on his face. Was he going to call her a coward? Was he going to throw her out of the house for her wrongdoing, even after he listened to her apology?

To their surprise, Jeison did neither. He took her into his arms, and he held her close against his firm chest. He leaned down to her ear and whispered softly, "There's no need to cry. I got you."

Ami sniffled and wiped away a loose tear from the corner of her right eye. "Jeison?" she squeaked.

"Look, I understand you didn't mean to be a bitch to us all, and I do hold Raian responsible for your behavior. But I'm very disappointed that you didn't take a stand when you needed to. You drove us apart because of this, and I shouldn't be forgiving you either.

"However, I do have a soft spot for my family in my heart, and since you're family to me, I'll let this slide. Just promise me this won't ever happen again, okay?"

Ami smiled and threw her arms around Jeison's neck, pulling him down for a tight hug. "Thank you, Jeison!" she exclaimed.

Megu approached her cousins from behind and extended out her arms for Ami to embrace her. Ami rushed to her and squealed, "I'm so glad we're together again!"

"Me too," agreed Megu as she returned the hug. "Welcome home, cousin. Welcome home."


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Two (or More) Heads Are Better Than One – United at Last!

Two police officers walked the length of the courtyard in front of the art museum late that night, but as they approached the grand terrace to the main entrance, they heard a loud hiss from inside the building. The junior officer stopped in his tracks when the noise reached his ears, and he shuddered at the thought of what lied beyond the glass doors. "What was that?" he asked, pointing his flashlight to the art museum.

"What was what?" inquired the senior officer.

"That hissing noise!" exclaimed the junior officer. "It sounded like a snake! Didn't you hear it?"

"It's probably in the bushes somewhere," said the senior officer dismissively. "Snakes like to hide in them, you know?"

"But I heard it from inside!"

"I'm sure you—"

The senior officer stopped in mid-sentence when the hissing grew louder, and he looked up the steps to discover that his partner was right. All over the patio were snakes of short and medium length slithering across cement, none of which paid any attention to the frightened duo at the feet of the two staircases. "Don't you think we ought to check this out?" asked the junior officer.

"That's a stupid question to ask!" retorted the senior officer.

They took great care not to anger the snakes as they ascended to entrance, and when they stepped inside the lobby, there was nothing but silence throughout the first floor. "Something's not right about this," murmured the senior officer to his junior partner.

"Maybe it's some sort of drunken prank from one of the frat brats. You know how wild they get," remarked the junior officer.

"But snakes? I'm not buying it. We better make sure nobody's snuck in, or else the curator is gonna have our heads."

As they drew closer to the heart of the art museum beyond the lobby, they noticed a faint light coming from the west wing on the upper level where a new painting had been recently put up for display. The senior officer rolled his eyes and motioned the junior officer to follow him closely. "Figures we'd have thieves break in on the first weekend," he grumbled.

"New addition?" asked the junior officer.

"Just came in yesterday afternoon. It's scheduled to stay until after the holidays, providing that nothing's happened to it by now."

"Let's hope."

Standing in front of a painting that depicted the ancient Greek hero Peruseusu beheading her younger self, Medosa placed her right hand on the wall below the thick gold frame and began to summon the fifth crystal from the other side. "Come on!" she growled under her breath. "Reveal yourself!"

"Hey, you! Step away from the painting!"

Medosa looked over her shoulder and found the two officers standing at the threshold to the room with their flashlights shining on her. "Didn't you hear me, lady? I said step away from the painting!" hollered the senior officer.

"Whoever said I was interested in art?" sneered Medosa. "You can keep your precious painting! I'm here for something far more valuable!"

"Regardless what you're here for, we're placing you under arrest for trespassing and theft!" said the junior officer. "Now, step away from the painting and put your hands up! Do it!"

"Fine. I'll play you're little game," purred Medosa.

She took three steps back with her hands near her face. "How's this?" she asked mockingly.

"That's good! Now, drop the hood!" ordered the senior officer.

"I don't think you'd want me to do that," warned Medosa.

"I said drop it!"

Medosa's lips curled into a devious smirk as she wrapped her fingers around the edge of her hood. "Don't say I didn't warn you," she hissed.

She pulled back the heavy material behind her head, and the only sound that filled the empty museum was the final blood-curdling screams of the two police officers, followed by the clattering of their flashlights against the slick floor.

"So, the art museum is the last place to have a crystal, huh?" asked Inochi.

"I'm afraid so, and I'm almost sure On'ai is inside as we speak." replied Waraku.

Tamashii, Waraku, and their friends stood before the empty terrace, slightly shivering from the cold breeze that swept past them. The rain had finally stopped, but dark, puffy storm clouds were quickly approaching from the west with the threat of another torrential downpour before midnight. No other soul was found walking through campus, but they did take notice of the few campus police cars that were searching for the two missing officers.

"Shit!" cursed Iinaka as she spotted a squad car driving along the quad behind her. "Does anyone know a thing or two about hacking security systems?"

"How do you know if there's a security system in this building?" asked Inochi suspiciously.

"Pardon me for my fiery redhead ignorance, but I believe this is an art museum! What kind of art museum would _not_ have a security system?"

_"Touché."_

"Well, since there are alarms and such to trigger intruders, how are we gonna get in?" asked Medetai.

"We could always teleport," suggested Tamashii.

"There's just one minor problem with your plan, Tamashii: not _everyone_ has been inside the museum," reminded Shi. "I know you and I have made a visit here for Art History last year, but that was just one time. I seriously doubt you know the building inside out."

"And I was never interested in art as a subject," confessed Medetai.

"Same here," added Iinaka.

"I always wanted to check it out, but I just never got around to it," piped up Inochi.

"So, if none of us can teleport without setting off the alarms, how the hell are we gonna get inside?" sighed Tamashii.

The quintet jumped at the sound of a door being unlocked from the side entrance to the east, and they peered around the corner to find Waraku holding the door open for them. Shi dropped his jaw in amazement and spluttered, "But… How did… What the… You did it?"

"I thought you knew I like going to art museums," said Waraku playfully.

"How often do you come here?"

"At least once a week."

"Nerd," coughed Iinaka from behind her right fist.

One by one, the sextet filed into the small hallway and climbed the staircase that lead to the east wing of the upper level. Tamashii was about to take a step further when Waraku placed her right arm in front of her. "Don't move another inch," she said.

She summoned an energy ball of water particles in the palm of her hand and cried out, "Hurricane Blast!"

The corridor was soon flooded by a powerful blast of water, and in a matter of seconds, bright red laser shooting from every direction stood out in the shadows of the room. "Damn! Those are a lot of lasers!" breathed Shi.

"Not for long," said Waraku.

Her eyes shifted to the control panel that was mounted to the wall and slowly worked their way up to the surveillance camera in the corner of the room. The lens were pointed toward the direction of the art display in the middle of the hall, and much to the Angelic Guardians' chagrin, there was a red light glowing at the top of the camera. "Candid camera. Joy," drawled Inochi.

"Be careful, you guys. We don't want the guards to get too suspicious about us," warned Tamashii.

"They won't be," assured Waraku as she approached the control panel and touched the keypad with her right index finger.

A light blue halo surrounded her hand, and the box began to spark and smoke beneath her touch, causing the lasers to disappear and the cameras throughout the art museum to shut down. Waraku drew back her hand, which was tingling with small volts of electricity, and smirked at her companions. "Problem solved," she said.

"How did you do that?" asked Medetai.

"I have the ability to generate and absorb electricity through water. It was the only way to turn off the power since I don't know the code," explained Waraku.

"I want to learn!" whined Iinaka.

"Sorry, cousin, but I'm the only one who can do it without zapping myself to death."

"Fuck."

Shi's ears perked at a small sound in the distance, and he stepped forward to with his head facing toward the entrance of the main hall. "Quiet, you guys!" he hissed to the others. "Someone else is in this building besides us!"

Everyone held their breath as they heard soft footsteps climbing up the grand staircase and onto the landing that divided into two smaller set of stairs, one leading to the west wing and the other to the east. The footsteps drew closer, and Iinaka motioned her friends to seek refuge from behind the many wax statues and the display cases in the room. "Over here!" she whispered.

From various hiding places, six pairs of eyes were fixated on the entryway, but they could not determine whether the shadow on the wall on the other side of the threshold was a demon or a police officer. Tamashii poked her head out from behind the hand-woven tapestry of the Oukan Brothers and saw a familiar pair of forest green boots coming to a halt in the middle of the doorway. "On'ai?" she murmured.

On'ai slowly turned his head as he scanned his surroundings, quietly observing the slight change of layout since his last visit to the art museum. Tamashii quickly pulled away when she saw On'ai shifting his emerald eyes toward the tapestry, but he caught a glimpse of the heavy material moving on its own in the stillness. "Seriously? Is that the best you guys can do?" he snorted.

Tamashii held onto a clump of yarn in her right hand as she listened to On'ai's taunting, but little did she realize that she was pulling down the tapestry every time she tightened her grip. "I know you and your friends are in here, Tamashii. You can't hide from me," continued On'ai. "Why don't you come out and face me like a true Angelic Guardian, or are you too much of a scaredy cat to do it?"

The overhead roller that held the tapestry in place suddenly unlocked itself and released the tapestry from its confinement, trapping Tamashii underneath its great weight. On'ai heard her muffled groan, and he shook his head in disappointment. "You've got to be kidding me," he sighed. "Come out from under there, Tamashii."

Crawling on her knees toward the hem, Tamashii yanked the tapestry off her body and pulled herself onto her feet in front of On'ai. "Scaredy cat? You dare to call me a scaredy cat?" she hissed.

"You were hiding," reminded On'ai.

"Because we didn't know if there was a demon or a policeman coming after us! We didn't expect it would have been you! How the hell did you get in?"

"I watched Waraku teleport inside the museum and helped the rest of you inside, but none of you remembered to lock the doors," replied On'ai with a smirk.

"Really?" snorted Shi as he stepped out from behind a wax statue of a samurai.

"I couldn't get too far without you noticing my presence, and I'm not gifted with the ability to short circuit the security system either. I had to wait for Waraku to do that for me," explained On'ai. "Speaking of which, where is she? Where did you hide her?"

"I'm here," answered Waraku from the other side of a display case full of ancient Japan artifacts.

With a heavy sigh, she stood up and approached the group with her head bowed and her eyes lowered. She walked past Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi without say a word to either of them, but she did not take another step forward when she reached Tamashii's left side. She raised her head to Raian with a look of determination on her face. "But I'm not leaving," she added boldly.

"We're supposed to be a team, Waraku!" growled On'ai.

"And we are, but my team consists of my family and my true friends, not somebody who throws me away like an unwanted toy!" snapped Waraku. "After you gave Tamashii back her memories, you became a completely different person! I was fine with it until you treated me like I was your slave! I am not your slave, On'ai! I am your partner, and partners don't dominate each other!"

"What about all the times I heard you ask me, 'When are you gonna tell her the truth', hmm? Don't you think that was a little bossy of you to push me around like that?" returned On'ai.

"I was only trying to protect you!"

"From what?"

"From losing sight of our mission! When you told me to rescue Tamashii from the siren, I had an inkling that you might have started to develop feelings for her again, especially when I found out that you took her on a dinner date! I couldn't wait any longer! I had to get to you to do what you came here to do, but all you were doing was wasting time! And right now, time isn't on our side!"

Waraku paused long enough to take hold of Tamashii's wrist into her hand and squeeze it for On'ai to see. "On'ai, please understand that while your mission is over, we still have the other one to finish, and I'm not leaving until it's done. My place is with Tamashii and my family, and if you have a problem with it, then so be it. I almost lost my cousins because of you, and they've been my best friends since I was a child.

"I'm sure Tamashii will take you back if you're willing to forgive her for abandoning you all these years ago, and I know Shi will give you a second chance, even though you two may have different opinions on approaching the enemy. I understand we don't see eye to eye with the others, but I'm tired of the fighting. I want peace, On'ai. Peace of mind, peace of self—that's what I represent, and I haven't been doing a good job of maintaining it lately.

"It's gonna take all of us to protect the last crystal, and if we do lose it to Myoujou, then it's our responsibility to make sure the Gates of Pandemonium don't open. We know that we'll need your help when the final war comes, but why not start now while you have a chance?"

"You are known as the lone Angelic Guardian because of your resentment toward working with others, especially those who don't agree with you or live up to your expectations," added Tamashii, "but you had a friend in me and a team as well. You were never alone. Even after I left Roganu to begin a new life here with a new team, you found another person to confide in during my absence, but you've driven her away with your selfishness.

"Not only that, you hurt her. I watched you hit her, and it made me sick to think that it could have been me had we continued on our relationship. Only a coward would do such a thing to a woman, but I know you're no coward, On'ai. You're just hungry for control, and that's something Waraku doesn't want. You used her as a guide to keep some distance away from me in case those old feelings started to dig up on their own from the grave, and when your mission to restore my memories was finished, you took over your assignment and rose above her so that she could stay within your shadow."

"That's why she came to us," continued Iinaka as she stood beside Waraku with the remaining Angelic Guardians following close behind, "and that's why she chose to join our team. But you still have a choice: you can choose to back to your old ways and do everything on your own, knowing that you'll put yourself at a greater risk of death, or you can learn to be a team player again and trust us. You might have been fighting Myoujou longer than us, but these demons are stronger compared to the ones you've found in the past."

"And if you really do care for Waraku, you know what you must do. Please, On'ai, we'll forgive you and forget the whole thing if you come with us. I promise," finished Tamashii.

"You won't abandon me again?" asked On'ai coldly.

"I won't."

On'ai turned to Waraku, and his eyes rested on the spot where he struck her with his hand. The mark was now invisible to the naked eye, but the memory continued to burn in his mind. Looking away in disgust, he clenched his fists at his sides and said, "If joining you and your friends means completely forgiving me for all that I've done in this life and in my past incarnations, then I accept your offer. But if you pull a fast one on me, Tamashii, you will regret it."

Before Tamashii could thank him, the marble floor beneath her feet began to shake violently. She could feel a monstrous presence moving below, and the tremors grew stronger as the unknown being passed by. "What's going on?" she asked her friends.

"I'm not sure, but we better check it out!" cried Medetai.

They ran into the main hall of the art museum where there was more space and fewer artifacts to destroy, for they had a feeling they were about to face a creature that was more powerful than the harpy, the centaur, the siren, the gryphon, and the Cyclops combined. Suddenly, the tremors stopped, and everyone looked around the room to see where the monster had disappeared. "Where did it go?" asked Iinaka.

On'ai looked down at his feet and saw the tile surface splitting by the second. "Guys, I think I have an idea where it went!" he cried.

The room started to shake again, and without warning, all seven Angelic Guardians found themselves flying in the air amidst the rubble. No one was terribly hurt from their fall, but when they looked up to see what broke through the floor, they were stunned by their discovery.

A dragon-like creature with green scales and massive feet burst through the floor and swung its three heads around, breaking valuable artifacts and knocking down beautiful paintings on the walls. Three pairs of silver eyes were focused on Tamashii, On'ai, and Waraku, who had landed far away from the other Angelic Guardians, and the beast let out a deep growl from the back of one of its throats.

"What's that?" asked Tamashii.

"That would be a hydra, and I don't think it's happy to see us!" gulped On'ai.

The hydra let out a deadly snarl and caught a glimpse of Medetai and Iinaka running across the floor to help the trio. Using its heavy tail, the creature knocked them into a display case nearby, and they landed onto a heap of broken ceramics and shard glass.

Shi watched Medetai take the heavy blow, and when he saw that she was struggling to stand, he clutched his scythe and jumped onto the hydra's slick back. He placed his feet in a position that allowed him slide along its scaly length, and the right and middle heads took notice of their intruder. They reached down to bite him, but he gracefully avoided their attack.

Finally, he slid to the left neck to the location where it joined with the rest of the body. He swung the blade of his scythe and sliced off the head in one clean sweep. The middle head hissed angrily and struck Shi's chest in retaliation, knocking him off his feet with a loud thud.

He picked himself up off the floor and prepared to decapitate another head, but much to his horror, the left head emerged from its severed neck and divided in half to form another head. "Oh shit! What did I just do?" he gasped.

"You went after the wrong head!" replied Inochi.

"But which one is which?" asked Shi as he watched the four heads twist around each other to confuse him.

A great light from the west wing caught Waraku's eye, but just as she opened her mouth to get Tamashii's and On'ai's attention, the light faded and disappeared in the darkness. Turning to On'ai, she said, "We got to jet! The fifth crystal's been located!"

"Where?" asked On'ai.

"In the other room! Hurry!"

Tamashii watched the duo flee to the west wing, but she heard a loud noise and turned her attention to Shi and Inochi as they did their best to fight the hydra on their own. In the distance, she could see Medetai and Iinaka trying to join the fight. "Are you okay?" she called to them.

"Yeah!" answered Medetai as she pulled herself out of the broken display case.

"Bad hydra," mumbled Iinaka under her breath.

Tamashii started to run to her friends, but Inochi looked over his shoulder and said, "Go with On'ai and Waraku!"

"But don't you need me?" asked Tamashii.

"As long as Shi can find the head that will weaken the hydra, we'll be okay! Just make sure the crystal doesn't land in the wrong hands!"

"Tamashii!" yelled On'ai from the middle landing of the staircase with Waraku standing faithfully by his side. "Let's go!"

Tamashii looked back at the other four Angelic Guardians and watched Medetai anger the hydra with her Twinkle Star Beam, followed by Iinaka's Love Flame. Neither attack was strong enough to kill the creature, but Iinaka was able to singe its hard, scaly skin to a minimum.

The right outermost head swooped down to devour Shi, but he quickly drew up his scythe and held it in place within the hydra's opened mouth. He kept his gaze fixed on the creature's strong jaws as he listened closely to see if his weapon would snap in half, and he called to Tamashii, "Don't worry about us! Just go!"

"Alright," affirmed Tamashii.

She joined On'ai and Waraku on the staircase, and together they climbed the steps that led to the entrance of the west wing. With the two Angelic Guardians running ahead of her, she cast a final glance over her shoulder at her friends with a look of longing in her brown eyes. _Be careful, you guys,_ she thought before turned her head forward and increased her speed to catch up with the duo.

When they had finally reached their destination, two stone figures with twin petrified expressions stood in the doorway and their flashlights lying at their feet. Tamashii approached the statues and closely examined them. She found a campus police badge on each statue with a name engraved in the stone. "What happened to these guys?" she breathed.

"Whoever it is, or whatever it is, you definitely shouldn't piss off, or else you're gonna end up like them," remarked On'ai.

"But who could do such a thing?"

A dark presence filled the room, and a chill ran down Waraku's spine. She turned her head toward the epic painting of Peruseusu and Medosa, but her eyes were solely fixed on the Gorgon. She had developed an interest in Greek mythology as a young girl, and she was fascinated by the many creatures that most of the world believed to be as fictional as fairy tales. One of her favorite myths was the legend of Peruseusu, and as she continued to stare intensely at the painting, she soon realized that there was only one group of species that could turn mortals to stone. "Medosa," she whispered.

"Who?" asked Tamashii and On'ai.

"Medosa," repeated Waraku. "It all makes sense! The harpy, the centaur, the siren, the gryphon, the Cyclops, the hydra—they're a bunch of myths! And the prophecy about the Lady of the Snakes… Gorgons were the only creatures in Greek mythology that turned men to stone with just one look, and they were usually associated with the snake because of the snakes that were used for their hair! That would explain why we weren't allowed to see who was doing Myoujou's dirty work for him! Had Medosa revealed her true self to us, we would be just like those two policemen right now!"

"And it's no fun when you can't play with your toys a second time around."

Tamashii, On'ai, and Waraku looked back at the painting and saw Medosa appearing before their eyes with a yellow crystal levitating over the palm of her left hand. "So, you've finally figured out who I am," she chuckled. "Too bad you figured it out a little too late."

"Give us the crystal!" growled On'ai.

"And let you try and steal the other four from under my nose? I don't think so!"

Small hissing noises lingered in the air, and the trio stood close by each other for protection. "Is that what I think it is?" whimpered Tamashii.

Slithering from out of the shadows, an army of all kinds of snakes—pythons, cobras, garters and smaller ones that were hard to identify—crawled on their bellies toward the three Angelic Guardians with hungry red eyes focused on their prey. Dozens of tongues darted out while those that were in front opened their mouths wide to expose their pearly, venomous fangs.

Three snakes sprang into the air to strike the trio, but On'ai quickly reflected their charge with his Rose Petal Cyclone. Although the attack could not sever his assailants like Shi's scythe did to the hydra, several petals punctured the snakes' chests and caused severe damage to the lungs.

"Hurricane Blast!" cried out Waraku.

The rest of Medosa's troop were engulfed by the sudden speed of Waraku's attack and drowned in the rushing water that accompanied the aqua energy ball, but the Gorgon was not moved by either one of the Angelic Guardians' powerful offenses. As the blast drew closer to her like a locomotive, she held out her right palm and parted the water without letting a single drop touch her cloak.

Tamashii, On'ai, and Waraku could not believe their eyes. Medosa had successfully avoided the attack by using a strong defense to counteract it in time, which was something most of the demons they encountered in the past were not able to do. "Do you honestly think your little magic tricks are gonna stop me?" snorted Medosa.

Tamashii summoned her crossbow and took aim at her target. "What about our weapons? Fateful Sealing!" she yelled.

Medosa never took her gaze off of the blinding light that was coming at her, and she did not move until the arrow was less than a foot away and quickly teleported off to the side of the arrow's path. "Not even your toys can touch me!" she replied.

"Rose Petal Cyclone!" cried On'ai.

Medosa lifted her right hand again and created a shield in front of her to protect herself from the sharp petals. The storm struck the invisible barrier, but none of the petals were able to break its strength.

"Damn it! How are we ever gonna beat this snake?" asked Waraku irritably.

"You can't!" cackled Medosa. "With the last crystal in my possession, the game is finally over! It's too late, Angelic Guardians! Nothing can save you from your ultimate doom! And once I have summoned the Gates of Pandemonium, I will unleash a great power that will destroy every Angelic Guardian on this planet, starting with you!"

In a blink of an eye, Medosa disappeared from the art museum, and a loud noise in the main hall followed shortly after. Tamashii, On'ai, and Waraku sprinted toward the staircase where they found their friends being overpowered by the hydra. There had been four heads when they left the quartet to battle the monster on their own, but now, after realizing that Shi had been careless with his aim, they were now looking into the many eyes of a thirteen-headed hydra. "Guys, are you all right?" hollered Tamashii.

"Get back!" barked Shi as he dodged one of the heads.

He swung his scythe over his head several times, and the silver blade began to glow brightly as it absorbed power. When he had collected all that he needed to defeat the hydra, he stilled raised his weapon as high as he could and struck the floor with the outer edge of the blade, crying out, "Death's Wrath!"

"Shi! No!" screamed Waraku.

The floor beneath the quartet's feet began to give way as powerful jolts from the blade electrocuted the hydra and shadows swirled around the creature. The hydra thrashed about, destroying more artifacts and paintings in its rage, but out of all thirteen heads, only the one that stood in the middle reacted more angrily to Shi's attack than the other twelve, which indicated that it was the weakest and more sensitive. "Gotcha!" said Shi.

He leaped high into the air, and with a mighty swing of his scythe, he beheaded the hydra. The remaining heads roared dangerously at the loss of their brother and continued their thrashing.

Suddenly, the hydra let out a painful cry as Shi's magic flowed through its body and destroyed its internal organs. The twelve heads lolled from side to side until they fell to the floor with a boom and moved no more. The floor collapsed and swallowed not only the dead hydra but also Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi.

"Guys!" cried Tamashii as she watched her friends fall through the dark void.

Not a sound of bodies hitting the floor was heard, not even the hydra's, and she started to worry when there was nothing but dead silence inside the great hole. "No!" she screamed.

She ran down the staircase and stopped at the edge of the hole in the floor to see if any of the quartet survived the fall, but all she could see was darkness beneath the tips of her boots. Taking a deep breath, she jumped off the ledge and into the void where she successfully landed on her feet amidst the rubble. She realized that the light green dust around her was the remains of the hydra, and she had a feeling that the beast dissolved the moment it touched the ground.

Her friends, however, could not be found anywhere, and she started to panic. "Guys!" she called as she pushed aside a large piece of tile to clear her path. "Guys, are you down here? Medetai? Iinaka? Shi? Inochi? Anybody?"

Standing along the edge above her, On'ai and Waraku listened to her plea as she continued to search through the wreckage for the other four Angelic Guardians. At last, they heard her fall to her knees and pound the ground with her right fist in frustration. "Guys, where are you?" she sobbed.

A sound from behind startled Tamashii, and she turned around to find the faint silhouettes of On'ai and Waraku standing with grim expressions on their faces. Silence lingered between the trio, and no one uttered a word until Tamashii suddenly threw herself into On'ai's arms and wailed into his chest. "They're gone!" she cried. "They're gone all because of me! I left them to die!"

On'ai turned to his companion for help, but Waraku sadly shook her head and said, "I'm afraid we're too late. Medosa has them."

"What?" asked Tamashii.

"But how?" added On'ai.

"I don't know, but since there aren't any bodies lying here, they must have been captured on the way down. That's the only explanation I can think of."

"And if Medosa has them, then we're definitely too late," sighed On'ai heavily.

"Why?" inquired Tamashii.

"All they have to do is take one look at her, and they're done for."

"And we're the only ones who know the monster that's underneath that hood," finished Waraku.


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

Two-Timing the Devil – A Stony Fate!

Medosa placed the yellow crystal at the base of Gorou Oukan's pillar and took several steps back to admire her handiwork. Each pillar had its respective crystal lying on the mosaic stone floor of the Oukan brothers' memorial, and the tips at the bottom of the crystals were pointing diagonally at exactly forty-five degrees to the northeast. The full moon above her head radiated its bright light and cast a pastel glow around the crystals, giving the site an eerie feeling.

"At long last, all five crystals are in my possession, just like I planned," purred Medosa. Curling her lips into a sinister smirk, she then added, "Now, to overthrow the king from his throne."

In one accord, the five crystals levitated above the floor and floated to the very top of the pillars where they sat within their gold iron-cast carriers. The pillar that was dedicated to Taro Oukan suddenly turned red, and before too long, the other four pillars went from being a natural shade to the color of their crystals, emitting a powerful force that made both the angels of Heaven and the demons of Hell turn their attention toward the mysterious activity.

Medosa held up her right hand and summoned the Book of Myoujou in between her slender fingers. She flipped open to the page with the incarnation to call upon the Gates of Pandemonium and began to recite aloud. "'_In nomen nostril senior Myoujou, ego voco vos!_ In the name of our Lord Myoujou, I summon you, O Demons of Hell, from your Infernal slumber! Break your chains and bring forth Chaos according to the will of Myoujou!

"'Open wide, O Gates of Pandemonium, and bestow your Power of Destruction upon the world! May your servants rise against Shinmei and silence the return of the High King!

"Come forth, O Demons of Hell! Come and be free from your Infernal prison!"

A beam of violet light connected the pillars to create a pentagram, and the angel statue in the center of the memorial slowly began to transform into the image of a dragon-like beast. Thunderclouds shadowed the entire campus, blotting out the moonlight like a stain, and the wind howled loudly as a portal in the sky opened to reveal two tall gates of pure obsidian with carved images of serpents coiled along each length and a heavy padlock that sealed them shut.

Medosa closed the book and looked at the gates in approval. "The Gates of Pandemonium!" she breathed with awe. "They're here! They're really here! This is amazing!"

"This is wrong!" cried Medetai from behind.

"Let us go, you slimy creep!" added Iinaka.

Medosa let out a deep growl of disgust and turned on her heels to face her prisoners. As they were falling through the hole in the art museum after Shi destroyed the hydra, she used her magic just in time to collect them and hold them captive while she carried out her plan without interruption. They were bound and trapped within the grasp of a giant serpent statue, but they continued to struggle in their binds and rubbed their arms against the stone to loosen themselves free. "Slimy creep, huh? Don't you know who you're speaking to, little girl?" she seethed to Iinaka.

Several hissing noises reached the quartet's ears, and the four Angelic Guardians looked down to find a group of snakes gathering around their mistress' feet. "I am the Lady of the Snakes, the Serpent Queen!" continued Medosa. "I am the most dangerous creature you'll ever meet in your measly existence! I am more powerful than those who came before me, and I'm not even of demonic blood either! Not even Myoujou can defeat me!"

"That's impossible! No creature like you can bring the Dark Demon to his knees!" argued Inochi.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that, angel. Looks can be deceiving, especially to the simple-minded."

"Then, why haven't we seen your so-called great power? Just what exactly are you hiding from us under that cloak of yours?" challenged Medetai.

Shi narrowed his eyes at Medosa as he tried to determine her identity through her speech and the snakes slithering along the hem of her cloak. _"Think back from the days of Greek mythology, Shi,"_ whispered Shinmei's voice from above. _"Think… hard."_

"Of course," he said to himself.

His scythe appeared in his right hand, and he began to loosen his grip on the black serpent-coiled handle. "Do you really want to know?" he heard Medosa reply as the handle continued to slip through his fingers.

Inochi turned to his companion and took notice of what he was doing. "What's gotten into you, man? You're gonna get us killed!" he said loud enough for only Shi to hear.

"If the Lady of the Snakes is who I think she is, Tamashii won't stand a chance against her unless I leave her this for her to use. It's the only way to kill her," explained Shi.

"You're letting Tamashii use your scythe?"

"Like it's gonna be any good to me in a few seconds!"

"What do you mean by 'a few seconds'? What's going on?"  
>"You'll see."<p>

Smirking in the shadow of her hood, Medosa reached up and slowly began to pull it back over her head, revealing her evil smile and her devious eyes to the quartet. "Silly angels," she purred. "You should know better than to mess with a Gorgon."

Not another sound was uttered from her prisoners, and the only noise that filled the gloomy air was clattering of Shi's scythe hitting the sidewalk beneath its stone-cold owner and his three friends.

Back at the art museum, Tamashii brooded quietly to herself along the terrace that overlooked the courtyard in the quad. She had her back turned to On'ai and Waraku, who were standing outside the main entrance, and she kept her eyes closed and her head slightly bowed as she continued to mourn for the loss of her friends. A tear escaped from her right eye, but she made no attempt to reach up and wipe it away.

On'ai stood with his arms crossed, but underneath the stoic expression on his face, Waraku saw a hint of concern in his green eyes. _After all this time, he still cares for her,_ she thought sadly.

She placed her right hand over his left arm and shook him gently. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I don't know what to do," answered On'ai with a heavy sigh as he shifted his attention back to Tamashii. "She still thinks she's to blame for the others' fate, but if she didn't come with us to track down the fifth crystal, she wouldn't have found out about Medosa.

"We almost lost her tonight, Waraku, and it would have been my fault if I allowed that to happen. Even though we're no longer together, I still need to protect her until her true knight returns."

"Her true knight?" repeated Waraku.

"She had a soul mate long ago, and I think she might have met him again in this lifetime."

"What makes you say that?" inquired Waraku, suspiciously arching her right eyebrow.

"I remember how her early incarnations used to speak so fondly of him, and she still does to this day," explained On'ai.

"So, why do you need to keep her alive until then?"

"It's not just me; it's all of us. Tamashii is essential for our army, and if she dies before the final battle, we won't be much of a match to Myoujou. But I made a promise to her that I would never let anything happen to her as long as she lived, no matter what may happen to us. Our paths have crossed again, and now it's my responsibility to make sure that promise is kept until the day I die."

Waraku pulled the corner of her lips into a small smile, and she then jested softly, "You're a true romantic, you know that?"

"Hardly," snorted On'ai. "I wish I can do something right now."

"Why don't you try and knock some sense into her?"

"Me?"

"You know her better than I do."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Whatever's on your heart. It's not quite the end of the world yet. There's still a chance for all of us if we can get Tamashii to fight again," reminded Waraku.

She looked at him expectantly, and he let out a long sigh of defeat, feeling more obligated than willing to guide Tamashii back to where she needed to be. He walked up and stood beside her with his left hand gripping the cement beneath her chin. Tamashii glanced at him for a moment, but she soon turned her head away and said, "I shouldn't have listened to them. I should have just stayed behind."

"Tamashii, even if you did stay to fight the hydra with your friends, you would have ended up like them," said On'ai. "Right now, the true identity of the Lady of the Snakes is our sole advantage, and we might find a way for history to repeat itself."

"But how? She's just too crafty for us to defeat her. I don't think she'd make the same mistake twice either."

"You right, Tamashii. She wouldn't make the same mistake over again if she was given a second chance to live," began Waraku as she took the empty spot to the left, "Medosa was previously killed because Peruseusu found her when she was sleeping, and she's far from having her peaceful slumber right now. But it's also very unlikely that she was revived without some kind of modification."

"Modification?"

"Something has to keep her head in place from slipping off her shoulders. Whenever a monster is brought back from the dead but lost a vital body part in their past life, a modification is added to make that broken limb whole again."

"So, that would make the neck her weak spot, no?" asked On'ai.

"Exactly. If we can find a way to literally make Medosa lose her head, we might be able to reverse her curse and save the others."

"Providing that we _can_ make her lose her head," grunted Tamashii.

"We can, and we will," assured Waraku, "but it's gonna take the three of us of stop her."

"And if we can't?"

"I don't think Shinmei is in the treachery business to allow such thing to happen. He knows how dangerous Medosa is, and he needs at least one of us to stop her," said On'ai, looking at Tamashii knowingly.

Tamashii rolled her eyes and whined, "Why does everything have to fall in my lap?"

"You're the only one who can put an end to Medosa's scheme," replied On'ai. "You have the power to do that. You just have to believe in yourself."

A flash of light caught Waraku's attention, and she looked across the courtyard toward the Pillar Garden on the other side. She saw colorful lights surrounding the pillars, and a rumble of thunder soon followed. There in the sky were the Gates of Pandemonium waiting to be opened. "Guys, I think we might be a little too late," she said worriedly.

"Are those the Gates of Pandemonium?" asked Tamashii.

"Yeah, but we don't have much time to stand around and marvel them! Let's go!" ordered On'ai.

Tamashii, On'ai, and Waraku cut through the grass and gasped in horror inside the north entrance of the Pillar Garden where they found the stone figures of their friends still trapped in the coiled body of the serpent statue. Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi had all been cursed after taking one glimpse of Medosa's face shortly after she had called upon the Gates of Pandemonium, and each figure wore a petrified expression, whether it was from seeing the hideous sight of their captor or feeling the dark magic that was being place upon them.

Medetai was the closest Angelic Guardian within Tamashii's reach, but she could not feel her former roommate's right hand touching her left cheek. Tamashii's eyes began to water, and before too long, her face was glistening from her tears of sorrow. "Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, Inochi… I'm sorry, you guys! I didn't mean for this to happen to you!" she croaked.

She rested her forehead against the serpent's length that was wrapped around Medetai's body and continued to sob. She prayed that her tears would revive and restore the fallen quartet, but nothing changed when she opened her right eye and lifted her head, only to find that her friends were still motionless stone statues.

Waraku felt Tamashii's frustration as she heard her leader's cries grow louder, and with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, she buried her face into On'ai's right shoulder to morn for their loss. On'ai blinked back a few tears of his own, but he said nothing as he took his right hand and wrapped his fingers in between Waraku's.

Tamashii wiped her face dry with the back of her right hand, and she forced herself to step away from her friends, only to turn her attention to the glowing pillars behind her and the silver dragon fountain that was now in the center of the neon pentagram. Standing in front of the memorial site was Medosa, now hiding beneath her cloak, with the book of Myoujou tucked beneath her left arm. "Medosa!" she growled.

"Well, look who finally decided to join the party!" sneered Medosa. "How nice of you to drop in and make an appearance, Tamashii! I had hoped you'd show up sooner or later just to save your friends!"

"Let them go!" demanded Tamashii.

"Now, why would I do that? They make great additions to my garden, no? They're certainly better than those lawn gnomes you mortals love to display! And, besides, they're harmless!"

"You don't know who you're messing with, you snake!"

"Is that so?" hissed Medosa. "Well, then, let me remind you of two things, little girl: one, even though I am known as the Lady of the Snakes, I am _not_ a snake!"

She blasted a dark energy ball into Tamashii's chest, slamming her target against the serpent statue with a powerful blow. Tamashii slowly pulled herself up and watched Medosa approach her with another energy ball forming in her hand. "And, two, never underestimate the power of your enemy not matter how weak they appear to be!"

Before she could strike Tamashii with another blast, she caught a glimpse of On'ai's Rose Petal Cyclone and Waraku's Hurricane Blast from the corner of her eye and used the energy ball to obliterate the combined attack. A burst of flowers and salt water exploded between the two parties, and On'ai and Waraku stood speechless in their spot after witnessing Medosa's incredible speed to counteract their magic.

"When will you angels ever learn?" asked Medosa in exasperation. "No matter how many of you there may be, your tricks hold no contest to mine!"

"She's impossible to defeat!" said Waraku.

"Yeah, and as long as she's got that cloak to protect her, there's no way we're gonna be able to get to the neck!" added On'ai.

"My neck, huh? Is that where you were trying to aim at? Foolish half-breeds!" chortled Meodsa.

Waraku looked closely at the Gorgon, and she could see a flash of gold gleaming inside the shadow of Medosa's hood where her choker connected her neck to rest of her body. "We're fucked!" she sighed.

"What?" asked On'ai.

"She's wearing a choker in the exact location where Peruseusu chopped off her head, and I've a feeling we'll need a key to unlock it," replied Waraku.

"Well, this is just great! The Gates of Pandemonium are here, our friends have been turned to stone, and now we can't defeat a resurrected Gorgon without a key to undo a blasted choker! What else can go wrong?" remarked On'ai sardonically.

The lights surrounding the pillars grew brighter, and the water spigots at the base of the dragon fountain began to trickle into the stone basin, gradually filling it with blood. A ray of light from each pillar shot into the sky at an angle to create a dark portal above the dragon. A pair of red eyes appeared inside the portal, and with a beastly snarl, a shadow swooped past On'ai, Waraku, and Tamashii like a cold breeze until it took its spot next to Medosa. The shadow solidified into a demonic being and soon took the form of none other Myoujou the Dark Demon himself.

Tamashii took a few steps back until her left shoulder brushed against the edge of the serpent statue behind her while On'ai and Waraku prepared themselves for a surprise attack. Myoujou's upper lips curled as he cast a glance at each of the three remaining Angelic Guardians. "Tamashii. On'ai. What a pleasure to see some old familiar faces again," he greeted oily. "And how could I forget the firstborn Angelic Guardian? It's been forever since we last met, Waraku. When was that again? The day I saw Shinmei give you power over the oceans after he formed the earth?"

"Try the great flood," snorted Waraku.

"Ah, yes. I remember. You were given specific instructions to drown every mortal on the planet except for a certain old man and his family because of his faith."

"That old man was an important figure to us!" snapped Waraku.

"Only because he was to be an earthly ancestor of the Son!" growled Myoujou. "You know Noa wasn't the only person who had been faithful to Shinmei, but you went ahead and killed others like him anyway!"

"It was part of Shinmei's plan to renew the earth!"

"And look how it turned out! People all over the world are just as wicked as they were before Noa built that stupid ark! And what's Shinmei gonna do about it? Absolutely nothing all because of a little promise he made to Noa: 'Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth!'" mocked Myoujou. "I would have thought the lot of you would have grown a brain by now and realize how just futile following Shinmei's cause really is!"

"It's only futile if you listen to a certain Dark Demon who keeps coming back like the plague!" retorted Tamashii.

Myoujou whipped his head toward her and scowled. "Then again, being created with ignorance isn't such a bad idea at all!" he snarled dangerously.

"It's not that we're ignorant to the truth! We know how frustrating Shinmei's cause can be!" reasoned On'ai. "But there is not a single ounce of good in your cause, Myoujou! Your cause is full of death, hatred, evil, corruption, and misery, just like the world to where Shinmei sentenced you for treachery!"

"SILENCE!" screeched Medosa.

Two serpents sprang out from the bushes behind On'ai and Waraku and wrapped themselves around the two Angelic Guardians before they hardened into two tall stone statues like the one that trapped the quartet nearby. A serpent tail shot up from the sidewalk and coiled around Tamashii's right ankle, pulling her onto the ground with a strong jerk and trapping her like a ball and chain.

"That'll keep them tied up for a while," drawled Medosa.

"Thank you, Medosa. I was getting quite a headache from just the sound of their voices," said Myoujou. "Now, if you will excuse me, I believe we have some unfinished business to tend to."

"Certainly," smirked Medosa.

Myoujou vanished for a split second and reappeared in front of the Gates of Pandemonium with a silver key in his right hand. He inserted it into the padlock that secured the iron barriers and loosened the heavy latch with just a turn of his wrist. The chains fell to his feet, and with his lips curled into a devious smile, he reached for the gates and wrapped his beastly hands around them.

Tamashii, On'ai, and Waraku held their breaths as they watched Myoujou pull the gates open, but to the trio's surprise, as well as Myoujou's, the gates would not budge. The Dark Demon pulled harder, but nothing happened. He even tried pushing the gates open, but they did not move an inch.

Finally, he stepped away and shot a dark energy ball to blast them. The sky was filled with smoke, but when it had dissipated, he saw that the gates stood firmly and were left untouched.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. "Why can't I open the Gates of Pandemonium?"

"You foolish demon!" cackled Medosa from below. "Don't you know they can't be opened by just anybody?"

Myoujou looked down to the earth along the edge of the cloud and sneered at the Gorgon. "What have you done to them?" he growled.

"I haven't done anything wrong, Myouji," answered Medosa sweetly with feigned innocence, "except, perhaps, _I_ was the one who did everything to make this mission a success!"

"Your service to me should have no bearing on the Gates!"

"On the contrary, it does! Only the one who collected the five crystals and summon the Gates of Pandemonium has the power to open them!"

"That can't be true!" argued Myoujou.

"If you weren't so lazy and let your minions do all your work for you, your so-called plan of destruction and chaos wouldn't have backfired like it did!" shot back Medosa. "You're no different than Shinmei, nor the other _kami_ man created after the true rulers of Heaven and Hell were sealed away!"

"Other _kami_?" asked Tamashii aloud.

"True rulers of Heaven and Hell?" murmured On'ai to Waraku. "What's she talking about?"

"The twelve _kami_ of Ancient Greece," replied Waraku. "The worshipping of Zeusu, Hadesu, and their siblings was deemed as blasphemous to Shinmei when _yudayakyou_ and _kirisutokyou_ became mainstream, which could explain why Medosa is here. She's probably out to avenge the Greek world."

"But isn't she working for Myoujou?"

"No. If anything, I think she used him."

"Me? Like Shinmei? How dare you compare me to that self-righteous—" began Myoujou.

"Oh, save it for when Hadesu returns to his throne!" snapped Medosa, yanking off the brown cloak off her body.

Myoujou tried to tear his gaze away from her face, but he soon realized he waited a second too late. His body stiffened, and his cry of help to his demons below was swallowed up as his tongue grew heavy and cold as cement. Within a matter of seconds, the great Dark Demon of Hell was another stone figure in Medosa's collection.

Tamashii could not believe her ears. The entire Pillar Garden fell eerily silent after Medosa exposed herself to Myoujou, and she had a feeling he became another victim to her curse. She caught a brief glimpse of the Gorgon, but she turned away and buried her face into the ground to protect herself from her doom. She waited until she was certain Myoujou was no longer a threat to her and her friends, and she lifted her head to see what became of him.

She opened her eyes, but everything around her was nothing but a giant blur. Even the grass in front of her was nothing more than a fuzzy shade of green as she reached out to grab it. _What's wrong with me?_ she pondered. _Why can't I see anything? Why is everything so blurry?_

"Guys!" she called to On'ai and Waraku. "Guys, where are you? On'ai? Waraku? Can you hear me?"

"You can try and reach them all you want, Tamashii, but they won't be able to answer back!" goaded Medosa.

"What happened to them, Medosa?" asked Tamashii.

"Just a little slip of the eyes, if you will."

Not only did her curse affect Myoujou, but On'ai and Waraku were also caught by surprise when Medosa threw back her cloak. Tamashii turned her head toward their direction, and although her eyes were unable to focus clearly on the duo, she noticed that they were no longer squirming in their binds and that they had lost all color to their bodies. _No! Not them too!_ she thought.

"What's wrong, Tamashii? Can't believe what you're seeing? Or is it the fact that you can't see at all?" taunted Medosa.

"What did you do to me, Medosa?" demanded Tamashii.

"Not a single thing, except not letting you suffer the same fate as your friends!" replied Medosa. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Shinmei wanted to keep you alive just to fight me, but what good is my challenger if she can't see a thing? Then again, I suppose the loss of sight does make a good trade-off in exchange for a stony doom."

She pulled out the Book of Myoujou from under her arm and transfigured it into the forbidden _Tome of Mythological Deities and Creatures_. "Looks like you won't be going anywhere for a while with that condition of yours. Let's just hope it stays that way until I'm done," she added.

She teleported to the entrance of the Gates of Pandemonium and opened the book to the incantation that would summon Hadesu, Zeusu, and their siblings from their exile and into the world. "_In nomen nostril senior Hadesu, ego voco vos!_ In the Name of our Lord Hadesu, I summon you to rise from your prison and reclaim the Underworld as your own once more! _In nomen nostril senior Zeusu, ego voco vos!_ In the Name of our Lord Zeusu, I summon you to rise from your prison and reclaim the Heavens as your own once more!" she recited aloud.

She took hold of the gates and flung them open, hoping to greet the two _kami_ from her world on the other side, but when she saw that there was nothing but a black void, she stared at it in confusion and tilted her head to the side. "But where did you go?" she asked.

"Somewhere far, far away from the likes of you!" hollered Tamashii from below.

"But that's impossible! Shinmei and Myoujou sealed them away millenniums ago!" cried Medosa, narrowing her eyes at the lone Angelic Guardian.

"Myoujou might have sealed away Hadesu just to have full control over the Underworld, but he wouldn't have touched the other eleven! He was too busy convincing the Greeks to continue on with their traditions! The worshipping of other _kami_, especially false _kami_, is what he would have encouraged since it's against the written laws of the _seisho_!"

"But this book—"

"Is full of lies! Myoujou is not stupid, Medosa! He probably knew you were up to something when you decided to take over his army, and considering you're from a false religion that was buried centuries ago, I'm almost sure he created that book to fool you!"

Medosa shifted her gaze to the book and saw it crumbling in her hand. "No!" she screamed. "This can't be happening!"

"Believe it, Medosa! You're nothing more than a fairy tale!" said Tamashii.

Medosa glared at her as she spread her wings in the midst her fury. "A fairy tale, you say, huh? Ha! You're not that real either yourself!" she spat.

"Only to those who don't believe in faith," reminded Tamashii. "I don't need to be dead to be an angel, nor do I need wings to prove that I am one. But a Gorgon needs a head full of snakes and a curse to turn humans to stone, which is something you don't see every day."

"You want proof that I do exist? I got it right here! Take this!" cried Medosa.

Tamashii saw a fuzzy light of dark energy coming toward her, but the serpent tail around her ankle kept her from escaping. The collision freed her from her confines, and before she could recover, she was soon greeted by another energy ball.

"I bet you didn't see that one coming!" laughed Medosa as she flew down to the earth and slowly approached her target.

Tamashii pulled herself up and glanced over her shoulder to find the tall shadow of the serpent statue looming over her head. She did not realize just how close she had been from watching her four friends being destroyed in Medosa's blitz, but she could tell that they had been spared from the blasts by the silence around her. _I need to get away before she hits them,_ she told herself.

As if Tamashii's thoughts were being projected out loud, Medosa smirked and shot an energy ball at the top of the statue, breaking off the snout of the serpent's head into large, jagged pieces. Tamashii listened to the sound of stone being smashed, and she rolled away off to the side just as a boulder crashed into the very spot she had been thrown into moments before. Not too far in the distance, she heard another chunk land somewhere nearby, and she prayed to herself that it was just another piece of the broken head and not one of her friends.

"This is just too good to be true: the great Tamashii, leader of the Angelic Guardians, blind as a bat and can't stand up to fight the enemy!" taunted Medosa. "What are you gonna next, Tamashii? Cry? Scream for Shinmei to come and save your ass?"

Tamashii grinded her teeth in anger, but as she moved her right hand along the edge of the sidewalk, she felt a strange object beneath her fingertips. It was long and lumpy in places, and each lump had a scaly texture that reminded her of snakeskin. _Dead snakeskin,_ she thought.

She turned her head toward the object, and she saw a blur of black, silver, and red through her glossy eyes. "Shi's scythe!" she breathed.

Medosa flapped her wings and launched herself off the ground to strike Tamashii, but when she saw Tamashii take the scythe into her hands and roll onto her back with the blade pointing out, she stopped in mid-air and trembled at the sight of the weapon. Her mind was suddenly filled with memories of Peruseusu's sword disturbing her slumber and the final seconds of her life before the sharp sensation of death stole her life away. She snapped out of her reverie, but her eyes never left the sharp edge of the scythe. "Get that thing away from me!" she seethed.

Even the snakes on her head began to hiss loudly as they sensed her apprehension. Tamashii smirked to herself and decided to use Shi's scythe to scare the Gorgon into surrender. She rose to her feet and took one step forward with the weapon still pointing directly at Medosa. "I will if you take that curse off my friends!" she said.

"You know very well my curse doesn't work like that!" said Medosa as she continued to retreat backward.

"Then, I suppose I have no other choice, do I?" returned Tamashii.

She took another step, but her right foot slid beneath a broken piece of stone from the serpent statue, and she fell face-first onto the ground. She had forgotten that there were remnants lying about in the grass, to which Medosa took to her advantage.

The Gorgon flew high into the sky and paused to extend her fingernails. Tamashii picked herself up from her fall and looked around the Pillar Garden for colors that she associated with Medosa. Her ears perked at the sound of wind rushing over her head, and she looked up to see Medosa nose-diving toward her with her fingernails ready to rip her apart.

Tamashii dug her fingers into the long black handle, and as Medosa drew closer, she saw a gold object gleaming around Medosa's neck. "There you are," she said under her breath.

Medosa pulled her right arm back to strike, but Tamashii flicked her wrist and swung Shi's heavy scythe near Medosa's neck. The blade had gathered enough power through Tamashii's touch that when the edge made contact with Medosa's solid gold choker, the device shattered into pieces and the scythe sliced through her skin in one sweep.

Head and body were separated once again, followed by a blood-curdling scream from Medosa's cold lips. The corpse disintegrated into dust, but the head landed on the ground with a thud. Medosa glared intensely at Tamashii, and she began to make threats toward the pink _senshi_. "Zeusu's lightning bolts, I can't believe I've been tricked again by a half-breed! I swear, Tamashii, when Hadesu hears about this, you'll be sorry for ever messing with me! I hope your punishment is far greater than what I've done to your friends!" she hissed as the small snakes in her hair coiled around her face.

Tamashii placed the blade in front of Medosa's face and took the handle into her hands like a golf club. She then focused on the dark energy that was lingering in the sky and turned toward the direction of the Gates of Pandemonium, realigning her body and the scythe with the void that was pulsing on the other side.

She looked down at the head one last time, and through narrowed yet blind eyes, she returned, "I don't think Hadesu will be hearing this any time soon. Fore!"

The blade swooped down and clipped the grass as it hurled Medosa's head high into the air and through the opened gates. Medosa screamed as she was swallowed inside the black hole of doom and dissolved into nothingness after being crushed by the hole's supermassive pressure.

All of Medosa's victims, including the two policemen inside the art museum, were restored to their normal selves as the curse was magically lifted the moment her head exploded. The officers looked at the extent of the damage that was left behind from the battle against the hydra and mentally took inventory of the broken artifacts and ruined paintings all over the building. "How are we gonna explain this to the chief?" asked the junior officer as they crossed the staircase in the main hall to the east wing on the other side.

"Easy—we resign," replied the senior officer without missing a beat.

Back in the Pillar Garden, Tamashii listened to Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi take their first breath of life after being stone figures for quite some time. "Guys? Guys, are you okay?" she asked.

The serpent statue began to crumble around them, but the quartet landed on their feet despite of their altitude. Medetai was the first one to recognize Tamashii's voice, and she rushed to her leader as tears of joys rolled freely down her cheeks. "I can't believe you did it!" she said, pulling Tamashii into a hug. "I can't believe you actually defeated Medosa!"

"Medetai, is that you?" asked Tamashii.

Medetai froze in horror. She pulled away and saw that Tamashii was staring back at her but with a glossy covering over her pupils. "Tamashii, what happened to you?" she gasped.

"I can't see," replied Tamashii. "I was blinded after I saw Medosa take off her cloak in front of Myoujou."

"So, that's why you didn't turn to stone like the rest of us," remarked Inochi.

"That's right. But why was I spared?"

"Probably because you were the only one who was in a better position to defeat Medosa," answered Shi thoughtfully, "which is why I left my scythe in your care. Shinmei clued me in the Lady of the Snakes' secret identity, and when I figured out that Medosa had an obsession with snakes and stones, it made perfect sense to let history repeat itself."

"That would explain why she was terrified of your scythe. She must have thought that I was a descendent of Peruseusu or something when she saw me with it," said Tamashii. "Speaking of which, I believe this belongs to you."

Shi reached out to take his prized possession from Tamashii's hands and let out a sigh of satisfaction as he felt his power return to his body and mingle with his mortal blood. "It feels so good to be the Angel of Death again," he breathed.

"It feels better to be alive, dear cousin," corrected Iinaka. "Now if only we knew how to fix Tamashii's problem and get her sight back."

"Why not leave things the way they are now?"

The quintet turned their heads to Myoujou who was now standing at the entrance to the Gates of Pandemonium with a sinister smile on his face. "A blind Tamashii is better than a Tamashii who has defeated every single one of my best commanders with her silly little arrows!" he added.

"What are you doing here, Myoujou?" demanded Shi.

"When I heard the lot of you had been taken captive and cursed, I couldn't resist the temptation to come up to earth and put the fear of Hell into you by opening the gates myself, but after I was informed that only the one who sought out the crystals would have the power to do so, my servant thought it would be funny to make a life-sized gargoyle out of me!" snarled Myoujou with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "And since you did me the favor of granting her the appropriate punishment for mutiny, Tamashii, I decided to stick around a little while longer and clean up her mess by finishing what I started!"

"I'm afraid your little plan for worldwide chaos and destruction won't work this time," said Geiburieru as he appeared next to Myoujou with his flaming sword in his right hand. "Medosa opened the gates for her own purposes. The void you see inside was unable to free Hadesu and Zeusu from their imprisonment, but because Medosa summoned it using a false spell that you created, your magic will have no effect on it either. Unfortunately for you, this was your one and only chance to collect the crystals before they were returned to their rightful pillars."

"Then, I'll search for them again!" said Myoujou.

"You can't. The crystals are here to stay… forever."

The pillars began to glow again, and the black portal to Hell appeared once more over the dragon fountain. Myoujou looked back at Geiburieru and saw that the archangel had begun to approach him with the fiery sword pointed at him. "Now, get out," ordered Geiburieru evenly.

"Come on, Geiburieru! Do you really think your little sword is gonna scare me?" taunted Myoujou. "I, too, possessed it at one time, and I know that's not real fire that you've got there!"

"Stop with your lies, Myoujou, and leave!" grounded out Geiburieru.

"You're gonna have to do better than that to get rid of me."

"Rose Petal Cyclone!"

"Hurricane Blast!"

A blast of water with rose petals swirling around the mighty aqua spray hit Myoujou directly in the chest, and he stumbled around the cloud like a drunkard. Once he was able to regain his footing, he narrowed his eyes at On'ai and Waraku and growled at the duo. "Trying to test my patience already, aren't we?" he spat, forming two dark energy balls with his hands. "Test this!"

Before he was able to hurl them toward the two Angelic Guardians, their friends quickly came to their aid and threw attacks of their own at him instead. "Twinkle Star Beam!" cried Medetai.

"Love Flame!" hollered Iinaka.

"Death's Wrath!" shouted Shi.

"Melodic Trance Blast" yelled Inochi after he summoned his lyre.

The quartet's combined attack was greater than what Myoujou expected, and he felt the power of joy, love, death, and life consume his body like a tidal wave. Still, their incredible offense was not enough to destroy him. Using all his strength, he deflected their magic and transfigured his beastly body into a shadow.

The dark figure slithered its way across the sky toward the portal, but its two red eyes cast a quick sneer at the Angelic Guardians before it crawled into its haven. "Don't think you've seen the last of me, Tamashii!" he said to the pink _senshi_.

"I'm sure I haven't," retorted Tamashii.

Myoujou disappeared into the portal, and after he sealed himself away from the world, the portal vanished and the Pillar Garden was restored to its autumnal beauty with the gold angel statue as the fountain head. At once, the Gates of Pandemonium slammed shut and Geiburieru moved quickly to secure them in place. He wrapped the heavy chain around each iron rod, and he hooked the very tip through the padlock before he pushed down the latch into its corresponding hole. When he heard the latch lock in place within the mechanism, he took out the silver key that Myoujou left behind in his fury and dropped it inside a leather pouch to give to Shinmei upon his return to Heaven.

Tying the pouch to the white satin belt around his waist, he then turned his attention to the infernal gates and placed his right hand in front of him with the center of his palm facing out. "O unholy gates of Hell, leave this world at once and return to the Abyss where thee belong!" he cried.

The Gates of Pandemonium faded into the shadows of the night, and the dark storm clouds rolled away at the resounding tone in Geiburieru's voice. Satisfied with his divine ability, he enveloped himself inside a white energy bubble and floated to where the Angelic Guardians waited patiently for his arrival. He noticed that everyone stood around Tamashii and looked at him for help. "How is she doing?" he asked.

"She lost her sight in the middle of the battle," answered Medetai. "Was that really Shinmei's doing?"

"Absolutely," affirmed Geiburieru. "There was no way he was gonna let Medosa make Tamashii another victim, but Tamashii couldn't go scot-free either. She had to suffer somehow, and losing sight is a far less consequence than what you six faced."

"But why sight?" asked On'ai.

"Sight is what heightens our perception by sending messages to the brain of what is being seen, but it also hinders our relationship with Shinmei, which causes a lack of faith," explained Geiburieru. "Sight is nothing more than an antonym to faith. If we see with only our eyes and not our hearts, we have no concept of faith whatsoever.

"When Shinmei took away Tamashii's ability to see things clearly, her mind was unable to take in the details of Medosa's face because of her blurred vision. It kept her from turning into stone, but it also put her at a disadvantage on the battlefield. However, Tamashii had to trust Shinmei and rely on her other senses to help her overcome her condition, and I must say she did an exceptional job dodging those boulders in the nick of time. But I don't think it would be wise if we left her like this for the rest of her life, no?"

He spat on the fingertips of his right hand and rubbed them together with his left in a circular pattern. "Tamashii, I'm gonna need you to close your eyes for a moment so I don't accidentally poke you," he instructed gently.

He pushed up Tamashii's pink mask and placed his saliva-coated fingers on her eyelids. He carefully rubbed in the solution until her skin was moist and soft, and he pulled his hands away when he was sure his magic was starting to take place.

Tamashii could feel a warm sensation awakening dormant inner muscles that were put to rest by Shinmei's command, and her eyes slowly fluttered open, twitching several times from the many colors of her surroundings that her mind absorbed all at once. Her friends held their breaths as they watched her struggle to see through new and improved eyes, and when her eyebrows suddenly shot up in alarm, they exhaled together with great relief.

She slowly turned her head from one side to the other to process all that had happened since she suddenly became blind. She first glanced at each of her friends, then to the spot in the sky where the Gates of Pandemonium had once been, and lastly the five pillars with their crystals gleaming brightly beneath the moonlight. Finally, she looked at Geiburieru and asked, "Did I really defeat Medosa?"

"Believe it or not, you really did," he answered with a small smile. "I'm very proud of you, Tamashii. You are truly the leader of the Angelic Guardians."

He then turned to the other six _senshi_ and added, "And I'm also pleased to see that the rest of you finally put aside your differences and worked together despite of tonight's outcome. I can only hope that this newfound friendship is a promising beginning to what will become the foundation of Heaven's strongest army in the next holy war. I don't expect all of you to agree on everything but rather compromise or respect each other's opinions. Find some sort of middle ground.

"Now, On'ai and Waraku, I believe your mission here at Oukan University is over. Not only were Tamashii's memories returned to her, but the crystals are now with their proper pillar and you prevented Myoujou and Medosa from putting the entire world through hell."

"But we still failed Shinmei. We allowed the Gates of Pandemonium to be opened," sighed On'ai.

"Yes, you did let Medosa open those gates, but you were also very fortunate that she was planning to double-cross Myoujou. And even though the spell book she used was a decoy that Myoujou wrote to trick an outsider to his army in such circumstances, there was no way Myoujou's magic could ever reverse Medosa's doing. That void you saw tonight will appear no matter how valid an incantation may be, but it's the hidden power inside those words that will determine the effectiveness of the void. Clearly, Medosa should have known Myoujou would never banish all but Hadesu if it meant winning another damned soul through the worship of another _kami_.

"As a reward for your faithfulness and a job well done, I'm giving you and Waraku the opportunity to return to Tokyo and finish your schooling over there after the holidays. The prophecies concerning Tamashii's memories, Medosa, the Gates of Pandemonium, and your allegiance to the team have all been fulfilled, and Myoujou won't be a threat to any of us until further notice. Now, I know this is a last-minute decision for you both, but I can assure you that Shinmei and I will provide everything you need to make transfer successful."

On'ai and Waraku hesitated. There was a hint of excitement in their eyes at the very thought of going back to the place where their journey as a duo began, but when they realized that leaving Oukan University would also mean leaving behind the five Angelic Guardians they had come to accept, their joy quickly disappeared.

Tamashii took notice of their internal dilemma and stepped forward to speak to the archangel on their behalf. "Geiburieru, if you don't mind, I think that with all the hassle of filing paperwork between the schools and the government and explaining to their parents about a change of heart, it would be a nuisance for them to return to Tokyo when they made themselves a home here in Oukan. If they wish to stay as permanent students, I don't see why we can't let them. Besides, they're part of our team, and we'd be more than honored to have them around for as long as possible."

Medetai, Iinaka, Shi, and Inochi nodded their heads in agreement, and Iinaka walked over to Waraku, taking her cousin by the hand before she turned to Geiburieru with pleading eyes. "Please, Geiburieru. Can they stay?" she asked.

Geiburieru let out a heavy sigh and gently bit his lower lip as he considered Tamashii's words. Even though Tamashii had no experience attending one university for one semester and then transferring to another institution that same school year, he was aware of just how frustrating submitting the transfer forms in a week's time could be. He also knew that not every student who wanted to leave at the end of the fall semester was successful in their attempt either, whether it was the forms being filed incorrectly or lost in the mail between the two schools or the government simply rejecting the transfer. As for their parents, he was almost sure they would have strongly opposed the notion as well.

Looking back at On'ai and Waraku, he then replied, "Well, I'm not the one who has to make the final call."


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Another Curse? Rizu's Diagnosis!

A week since the battle against Medosa had passed, and Mr. and Mrs. Hoshino made a special visit to Oukan University to watch their daughter's senior showcase on the second floor of the Saburo Oukan Gymnasium. Beronika was happy to see her parents sitting in the audience on opening night, but she was more thrilled to see her friends gathered together to see all that she had accomplished after three months of practice.

Raura was personally selected as the lead dancer of the piece, and everyone, except for Jeison, was dazzled by her performance. Megu and Ami glowered at their cousin when they caught him staring at a certain someone who was standing off to the side with her arms crossed over her chest as she oversaw her dancers' recital in silence. "Jeison!" scolded Megu quietly. "Pay attention to Raura! Beronika's not the one you should be looking at!"

"I can't help it!" sighed Jeison dreamily. "Even when she's not dancing, B is so beautiful! Just watching her stand there in the corner makes me feel warm and fuzzy!"

"Is he always like this around Beronika?" asked Ami.

"You should have seen him last year when she had to participate as an active dancer. Rizu and I thought about making a quick trip to the Village and buy some buckets to catch his drool!" grumbled Megu.

"He's a lost cause," chuckled Deibiddo.

"Rizu, are you okay?"

Everyone in the group turned their heads when they heard Raian voice his concern of his ex-girlfriend. They found Rizu clutching her stomach and a sheer layer of perspiration breaking out across her forehead. "She doesn't look too well," murmured Jeison.

"What's going on?" asked Mrs. Hoshino worriedly.

"Rizu's sick," replied Ami.

"She looks worse now than the other day," added Deibiddo.

"Let's get her out of here," suggested Mr. Hoshino as he took Rizu by the arm. "She needs to go back to her room."

Beronika caught a group of people walking toward the exit across the room and frowned when she realized that it was her family and friends who leaving in the middle of her piece. She wanted to confront about their hasty departure, but after seeing Rizu's sickly condition, she bit her lower lip and looked back at Raura and the other dancers in their group, feeling torn between abandoning them to help her former roommate and sticking around for the grand applause of praise after putting so much heart and soul into her project.

Mr. Hoshino and Jeison helped Rizu slide down onto a bench outside the women's restroom to catch her breath, and Ami walked out with several damp pieces of paper towels in her right hand. "It'll be okay, Rizu," she said softly as she wiped away the sweat on Rizu's face. "It's all right. We're here."

"Does anybody know what's going on here?" asked Mr. Hoshino.

"I'm not sure, sir, but it doesn't look good," answered Raian.

Rizu shivered from beneath Ami's gentle touch and said, "I need a blanket."

"A blanket? But you're sweating like a pig!" exclaimed Megu.

"I need something warm!" snapped Rizu.

"What you need is a trip to your room," snorted Deibiddo. "Come on, Rizu. We're taking you back."

There was a rumble of hands clapping from inside the dance performance room, and Beronika rushed out into the hallway to join her friends as the next group prepared to take the floor. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Everything except for Rizu," replied Mrs. Hoshino. "Why didn't you tell us she was sick?"

"She was fine after last weekend!"

"Clearly, she isn't now," said Mr. Hoshino. "I'm afraid your mama and I will have to take her in our car. I don't think she'll make it across campus on foot without collapsing."

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"I'm coming with you!" declared Jeison.

"As much as you want to ride with our daughter, Jeison, I don't think it'll be a wise thing to do right now," warned Mrs. Hoshino. "And you, Beronika, don't need to go with us either. Papa and I are willing to take a risk, and who knows what Rizu may have! It could be contagious!"

"And the last thing we want is to get everyone on this campus sick because you were near a sick person," finished Mr. Hoshino. "Now, Beronika, be a dear and stay with your mama. I'm gonna walk over to the parking garage and meet all of you at the side entrance. Understood?"

Beronika nodded her head in reply and turned to Rizu as she listened to her father climbing down the marble staircase to the first floor. "Don't worry, Rizu. We'll get you home as soon as possible," she promised.

Keitorin jumped in her seat in front of her laptop when she heard the door open with a bang and a group of students rushing into the room with a weak Rizu Hikarino in their arms. "What did you do to her?" she shrieked.

"Nothing! She just fell sick again!" replied Deibiddo. "She was doing fine until we were halfway through watching Beronika's recital!"

"Did she catch another cold?" sighed Keitorin in exasperation.

"I think what she had last weekend decided to come back with a vengeance."

"Well, does anybody know exactly what she's got? I need to know before I catch it!"

Everyone looked at Ami for an answer, but the diry blonde snorted and said stiffly, "Don't look at me. I might be in the medical field, but I'm no expert at diagnosing the sick."

Raian looked at Rizu's frail form for a long moment and silently dismissed himself from the room without being noticed. After he carefully shut the door behind him, he reached into his hoodie jacket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number and began to pace in front of the door as he waited for someone to pick up his call. At last, he heard a familiar voice on the other end greeting him, and he said, "Papa, it's me. I need your help."

"Hmm," murmured Dr. Jemazu Daishizenno a few hours later as he gently pressed down the tongue depressor. "Interesting."

"What?" asked Rizu.

Dr. Daishizenno said nothing until he pushed against the sides of her neck and felt two lumps beneath his fingers. "Uh oh. That's not good," he said

"What's not good?"

Taking a deep breath, Dr. Daishizenno pulled back and replied remorsefully, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Rizu, but I'm afraid what you're suffering from are just some of the early physical signs of mononucleosis, and those lymph nodes in your neck just confirmed it."

"Lymph nodes?"

"Haven't you seen your reflection lately? You almost look like Frankenstein's monster," chuckled Dr. Daishizenno.

"I don't see how this is a laughing matter," grumbled Rizu.

Dr. Daishizenno felt slightly embarrassed for a second. With the exception of women who were far into their pregnancy, he usually did not have to worry about teasing or cracking jokes to a young adult patient with little or no sense of humor, and he cleared his throat to dismiss his playful behavior. "No, you're right. It's not a laughing matter at all. In fact, it's a very serious matter we're facing. Now, I could be wrong with the diagnosis, but I've seen and heard of these symptoms, and they've all been linked to mononucleosis. And just to be on sure, I'm gonna have to do some blood work."

"Blood work? As in using needles?" squeaked Rizu.

"Yes, Rizu. I have to use needles."

"Just how much blood are you gonna take?"

"Enough to fill several sample tubes. I'll be borrowing the lab across the street from the school tomorrow morning, and I'll return with your results about three hours after that. If you do indeed have mononucleosis, I'll also be able to tell you just how far along you are and if you're contagious to the point this room needs to be quarantine."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You won't be permitted to see your friends until you get better," replied Dr. Daishizenno flatly. "I'm sorry, Rizu, but for the good health of others, I have no choice but to confine you to your bed until I know for sure what you have."

"Confine me to my bed? But I have finals coming up, and I have to leave for the holidays after that!" whined Rizu.

"I know that. I do have a son that attends this school too, remember? And since we're on the subject of going home, do you drive?"

"Let me guess: you're gonna tell me that I'm not allowed to drive either."

"Not until you're no longer a risk behind the wheel," answered Dr. Daishizenno. "Those who have been diagnosed with mononucleosis or a sleeping disorder have a greater chance of falling asleep while driving, and the last thing I need to hear is you either taking someone else's life or your own. I don't suppose you want go through all that."

"No, sir, I don't," mumbled Rizu.

"Very well, then," said Dr. Daishizenno as he took a syringe from his traveling kit. "Now, this might hurt a little."  
>On the other side of the door, Keitorin and all of Rizu's friends sat in the hallway as they waited to hear Dr. Daishizenno's report concerning Rizu's illness. Megu and Deibiddo observed their group in silence, and they watched Jeison pacing up and down the length of the hallway until he would stop and check the time on his wristwatch. Beronika laid beside the baseboard of the wall and sent text messages to both Raura and her parents, all of whom were deeply worried about Rizu, while Ami and Keitorin huddled next to each other on the other side to allow Jeison through.<p>

Out of all the Angelic Guardians who were on tenterhooks the most, they noticed that Raian was sitting by himself near the trash room and appeared to be brooding. They exchanged concerned glances for a second and then looked back at the young man down the hallway.

Raian stayed far away from the group as much as possible since his father's arrival that night, and he began to wonder if showing Rizu her lost memories was a good idea. He had always known Rizu as a person who could not deal with stress, but this was the first time he saw just how dangerous stress can be to a person's health, especially to a person like Rizu.

Just as he lowered his head, Ami stooped down beside him and took his right hand into hers. He let out a deep breath and asked quietly, "Did I do the right thing?"

Ami bit her lower lip and gave Raian a gentle squeeze. "I don't think giving back Rizu her memories was the right thing to do, but Shinmei knows what's best, even if it doesn't seem ideal to us," she replied.

"I know, but I feel guilty and a little bit responsible for the way she is now," confessed Raian.

"This isn't your fault, Raian. You might have contributed a great portion of it because of your mission, but this is Rizu's way of coping with the stress that came with it," said Ami. "Just give it some time. She'll overcome this, and all will be normal again. I believe in her."

"Yeah."

The door handle to Rizu's room jiggled, and everyone looked up to see a somber Dr. Daishizenno stepping into the hallway with his traveling kit in his hand. Jumping onto his feet, Raian approached his father and asked, "Is she gonna be all right?"

Dr. Daishizenno shut the door, but he kept his sad eyes fixed on the floor with a grim expression on his lips. "I don't know, Raian," he answered. "I have to go over to the hospital in the morning when the laboratory opens and look over some tests."

"Do you know what it could be?" inquired Keitorin.

"I'm not gonna swear to it until I see the results, but if I had to guess, I would say that she's suffering from mononucleosis."

"Rizu has mono?"

"She's showing physical and mental signs of the early stages: chill spells, hot flashes, fatigue, lack of appetite, and swollen lymph glands. The nausea should be kicking in by tomorrow, which might make things worse."

"How?"

"Not only will she be dealing with abnormal weight loss, but if she's not careful, she'll also dehydrate herself and neglect her sodium and sugar intake to the point that she might contract a severe case of jaundice," replied Dr. Daishizenno.

"So, does this mean that we can't see her?" asked Beronika.

"I'm sorry, but for the sake of those around campus and in the building, I won't let you take one step into that room."

"Papa, will you at least allow me to talk to her?" asked Raian.

"Raian—"

"Please! She's my best friend, and I was the one who called you over here from Tokyo because I was concerned about her!"

"Raian, you'll be exposed to whatever Rizu has!"

"So what if I get sick!"

"What about your friends? Don't you care about their health?"

"I'm willing to take full responsibility if I end up causing an epidemic, but please let me see Rizu!" begged Raian.

Dr. Daishizenno glanced at his friends for a moment and then looked back at him with a heavy sigh of defeat. After practicing parenthood for twenty years, he knew his son always had a special place in his heart for those he cared greatly for, but what confused him the most was Raian's strange relationship to a young woman who had never been formally introduced to him. He had never seen her before in his life, yet there was still a sense of familiarity when he took one step into her room that night.

Because of her, his desire to deny Raian the right to visit her in her current condition was subdued, and he found that he had no strength to argue until his face turned blue. "Very well," he said reluctantly, "but if you get sick, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Thank you, Papa," said Raian, reaching for the door.

"By the way, I feel like I've known your friend, but I'm almost sure we've never met," added Dr. Daishizenno. "You said that she attended high school with you, no?"

"Yeah, she did," replied Raian. "You probably saw her in some of those after school award ceremonies or something. She was pretty smart."

"Perhaps so."

Dr. Daishizenno caught a glimpse of Micchi walking down the main hallway toward the group, and he turned to Raian with a dismissive look in his eyes. "I'm supposed to meet with your hall director to discuss this matter with him in case he needs to take action," he continued. "I expect you won't take long?"

"I won't," promised Raian. "Thank you, Papa."

"You're welcome. Meet me downstairs when you're done."

"I'll do that."

Beneath the warmth of her comforter, Rizu heard the sound of her door creaking and opened her right eye to see who was invading her solitude. "Rizu, are you awake?" asked Raian as he approached the bed.

"No, I'm sleeping," she replied sarcastically.

"Real funny," drawled Raian, jumping onto the side of her bed with his legs hanging off of the edge. "Not feeling any better, huh?"

"Not at all," muttered Rizu. "Your papa thinks that I might—"

"Have mono?" finished Raian. "I know. He told us before he left."

Rizu bit her lower lip and cast a worried look to Raian. "Do you really think I have mono?" she asked softly.

Raian shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I don't know. I haven't seen you kiss a guy lately."

"That's because I haven't had a guy who wanted to kiss me," sighed Rizu. "You and Robu were the only guys who have, but Robu was the last one."

"When was that?"

"Two years ago."

"It's possible that you contracted it from either one of us and that the mono laid dormant for a while until something like stress triggered it," explained Raian. "I've heard rare cases where mononucleosis was linked to people with high stress levels. So, basically, you worried yourself sick."

"You sound like Geiburieru when you say it like that, you know?" retorted Rizu.

"How so?"

"He told me that I would wind up like this if I didn't stop worrying."

"Well, maybe it's time for you to learn how to handle stress properly," suggested Raian. "You can't afford to go through something like this again."

"I'm not looking forward to seeing the bill, and neither will my parents," said Rizu.

"You won't have to worry about it. Papa is doing this free of charge," assured Raian.

"Including the blood work?"

"_Especially_ the blood work."

"But why? Wouldn't he like to get paid for helping me get better?" asked Rizu.

"Papa has done many things for me and my friends whenever we were sick, and he knew their families would be forced to live in a tight budget until the bill was paid in full. Then, after he quit his practice at the hospital, he was able to charge his patients at whatever price he felt they thought was reasonable within their budget, but there were a few occasions when he did his work for free."

"Why would he do such a thing?"

"Papa is a devout _kurisuchan_, and he believed that Iesu didn't heal people for money. He did it out of compassion. So, Papa modeled his practice in a similar manner. The only reason why he set a minimal price was to cover the expenses for supplies and basic equipment, but if you didn't have the money, he understood and took care of it himself."

"I guess I should be thankful your papa isn't gonna charge me an arm and a leg for this. I owe you one, Raian," said Rizu.

"It's nothing. I'm just doing this to help you get back on your feet," said Raian. "That and I still feel responsible for putting you through this mess."

"It's not your fault," sighed Rizu. "I didn't know I would react this way. I usually don't."

"No, you don't, but then again, not many people lose their memories and have them returned to them with a vengeance either," mused Raian.

Rizu chuckled to herself at his jest and then asked, "Did your papa remember me?"

"He said that you looked familiar to him. He just doesn't know how or where he saw you," replied Raian.

"You're not gonna tell him, are you?"

"Some things about the best are best to be left alone for good, including our families' alterations."

"You've got a point," agreed Rizu. "I just don't remember your papa being a funny guy on the job."

"That's because you never had him for a family doctor. What did he do this time?"

"He said I have lymph nodes that look like those knobs on the neck of Frankenstein's monster."

Raian tried to stifle a hearty laugh, but he could not get rid of the silly image out of his mind. After a deep rumble from the back of his throat escaped his mouth, his face was soon ambushed by Rizu's pillow.

Dr. Daishizenno returned the next morning with the results from Rizu's blood work, and just as he suspected, the test showed that she was indeed infected mononucleosis. Micchi was the first person to receive the news, and he advised Rizu to leave a warning on her dry-erase board to those who wanted to visit her. Many students in the building stayed away from the room, and for her health and safety, Keitorin decided to spend the rest of the semester at another residence hall.

Only the six remaining Angelic Guardians were allowed to enter if they had homework for Rizu to complete, but not all of her professors were sympathetic about her condition. Dr. Cook-Ikeda took the news as an excuse to drop out of the class without following the proper procedures, and she did not show an ounce of concern when Beronika poked her head inside her office the following Monday morning. "Dr. Cook-Ikeda, may I speak with you?" she asked.

With a disgruntled sigh, Dr. Cook-Ikeda lowered her cup of hot tea from her lips and set it aside on its matching saucer. "What can I do for you?" she asked stiffly.

"It's my old roommate Rizu Hikarino."

"What about her?"

Beronika hesitated to answer. Instead, she slid a copy of Dr. Daishizenno's note over the desk. "She's been diagnosed with mono," she continued. "We don't know how long it'll be before she can go back to class."

"She might as well give up now," snorted Dr. Cook-Ikeda. "There's no way she'll be able to catch up with the rest of the class at this rate."

"But she's trying to finish her term paper, and I've seen her a few times studying for your final! It's just that she's been fighting to stay awake!"

"She's not gonna pass my class if she continues to skip out because of mono."

"So, you mean to tell me that you're not gonna help her?"

"I don't help students who are incompetent of learning a foreign language!" snapped Dr. Cook-Ikeda. "Miss Hikarino has no reason to go after an English degree if she can't understand what she's reading or what I'm saying! Do you have any idea how low of a grade she has in class participation?"

"I admit Rizu is the shy and silent type in the classroom, but you shouldn't judge on her ability because of it!" shot back Beronika.

"Has she told you about the grades she gets on her homework assignments?"

"After seeing your handwriting scribbled all over her papers in red ink, I don't think she has to tell me _anything_!"

"What about her not coming to me for help?"

"Why should she ask for help from a tenured professor who loves to shred her students' self-esteem to pieces no matter how hard they try to please her?" returned Beronika. "I'm sorry, Dr. Cook-Ikeda, but Rizu won't come to you for good reasons. She's very scared of you."

"And she should be," said Dr. Cook-Ikeda with a smirk. "You know, I might have spared Miss Hikarino some mercy for her illness had she come to me without hesitation, but I'm not willing to lend a hand to my students if they are too afraid to ask for my assistance first."

"Well, maybe if you weren't so cruel and hard to them, Rizu and a few others would have asked for your help a long time ago!" said Beronika. "Rizu is in serious need to get through this semester! Her other professors have been accommodating me and our friends this morning, but you? How could you be so horrible to someone so fragile like Rizu? She needs to pass this class, and as spiteful as it may sound, why don't you step up and do something if you don't want to see her face again! I'm sure you would like that, no?"

Dr. Cook-Ikeda said nothing as Beronika's words echoed in her head. It was true that she would like to see Rizu pass her class and not have to retake the course, but underneath her authoritative persona, she was a fair and honest professor when it came to final grades. In all her twelve years at Oukan University, not once did she have the urge to bend her rules and allow a student with poor classroom performance advance to the next class just to get him out of her hair, but somehow temptation was knocking on her heart's door.

Rising out of her chair, she walked across the room to a tall filing cabinet where she kept the last two homework assignments for the semester and study guides that coincided with the final. She gave Beronika the papers and said, "I expect a homework assignment from Miss Hikarino on my desk every Friday afternoon and her term paper the Thursday before finals."

"And the final?" asked Beronika.

"I'll have you take it to her when I receive everything else. She'll have a week to complete it."

"I understand, _sensei_. Thank you."

Rizu pushed herself to focus on her studies all through the last two weeks of November and into mid-December. Sleep did not come easy for her, and she found herself several times working on the final draft of her English Literature term paper in the early morning hours as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. By the last week of school, she was exhausted and worn out, but all she had left to do was a final for each of her classes.

She broke the news to her parents as soon as she received her official diagnosis and told them that she was prohibited to drive her convertible until she was better. Sherona was not too thrilled about having a contagious daughter home for the holidays, nor was she happy with the special arrangements she had to make for Rizu. It was decided earlier in the semester that Rizu would come home immediately after her last final and that both she and Roderikku would go to Tokyo to pick up Po-ra from Tokyo University the Saturday before the start of the holiday vacation, but because of Dr. Daishizenno's orders, she drove to Tokyo alone while Roderriku traveled to Oukan that same afternoon.

Rizu and Roderikku had just stepped into the hallway with all of her belongings for home when Raian approached them. In his hands was a gift wrapped with holiday decors all over the paper and Rizu's name written on the sticker beneath a metallic green bow. Rizu looked at the present and then at Raian, pursing her lips together in wonder. "Is that for me?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied Raian with a shrug. "Consider this as a 'get well soon' present."

Rizu took the oblong gift box into her shaky hands and gave Raian a weak smile. "Thank you," she said. "Happy Christmas, Raian."

"Happy Christmas, Rizu."

Just as Raian turned to leave, Roderikku stopped him in his tracks. "Pardon me for bothering you, but have we met?" he asked.

Rizu looked up at her father, hoping that his altered memories were not starting to come undone by the mere presence of her ex-boyfriend, but the young man glanced over his right shoulder and shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he said.

"You look familiar, though."

"That's what they all say."

Roderikku grunted and led his daughter toward the east staircase where his SUV was parked in the snow-covered lot behind the complex, but as they took descended down the steps to their destination, he tried to remember where he had seen Raian's face outside of Oukan University. "Who was that boy?" he asked Rizu.

"An old friend from high school, Papa," answered Rizu.

"Funny. I don't remember you running around with him."

"That's because we ran around with each other during school, but he was at several home games when I was still playing in the pep band. You might have seen him in the student section or something."

By the time they reached the SUV, Rizu turned her gaze to one of the windows on the fourth floor in the adjoining hall and saw Raian watching her on the other side of the glass. She caught him smiling down at her, and she gave him a warm smile in return before she slid into the passenger's seat.

Many miles later between Oukan and Roganu, Roderikku found her looking over her gift. In her hands was a boomerang made of pure gold in the shape of a pair of angel's wings, much like her old bow. Attached to the right wing was a handwritten note from Raian, which read:

_"In case you have forgotten our pact, I was to return this boomerang should our paths ever cross again in this lifetime. May it serve you well in the near future." – R.D.D._

"Do you like what he got you?" asked Roderikku.

Rizu felt the corners of her lips curl into a smile, and she closed her eyes as she wrapped her fingers around the boomerang and held it close to her chest. "Yes, Papa," she breathed. "I like it very much."


End file.
